


The Whole Truth

by Lindiloo02



Series: Merlin is charmed [4]
Category: Charmed, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Drama, F/M, Humor, M/M, Magic-Users, Mild Language, Romance, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-04-17 02:08:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 52,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4648227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lindiloo02/pseuds/Lindiloo02
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Both Merlin and Arthur had their secrets and they were hovering over them like a big black cloud, it was only a matter of time before lightning struck revealing everyone’s secrets. And with not one but three demons after them it was not going to be pretty. Can they come to terms with it all to ensure the rebirth an ancient race?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 2 will be up in a week or two, not sure if there will be 2 or 3 yet.
> 
> You don't need to know Charmed to follow this series and if I have done this right you should be able to read this without reading the previous 3 parts without getting too confused, though it would probably help.
> 
> For those who follow charmed I have not followed the series religiously so things will appear out of order and slighlty different to fit my twists. I have based this on 2 episodes and then we go off and come away from the Charmed world a little, I got a little carried away lol.
> 
> I will keep this series at a mature level, so nothing explict in these.
> 
> I don't own Merlin or Charmed and no profit was made from this, but I am sure you already knew that.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Merlin now!”

Merlin froze the demon that was running towards him with a fireball in his hand. Merlin, Morgana and Freya had managed to corner a fire demon in an underground parking lot.

“Morgana throw the potion!” Merlin yelled at the same time as Morgana threw the potion. The tiny glass bottle shattered against the frozen demon, the red liquid inside slowly oozed its way down the demon’s chest, sizzling slightly.

“Okay Freya your turn.” Morgana said.

Freya proceeded to quickly move the fireball in the demon’s hand with her power and directed it at the sizzling potion. The potion ignited and the fire quickly spread and engulfed the demon in a matter of seconds. The demon unfroze and started to scream before fully understanding why. The demon was powerless to stop it, his own power had been turned against him. Less than a minute later there was a small pile of ash where the demon once stood.

“Well that went like clockwork,” Freya smiled, as they all breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’ve had plenty of practice,” Merlin agreed, “How many does that make this month?”

“That’s what you call team work,” Morgana answered with a grin, “And that one makes eight so far.” Morgana still got a big kick out of vanquishing demons. They all did really, after all they were stopping evil and saving innocents, who wouldn’t get a kick out of that? But Morgana seemed to get a bigger kick that the rest of them. It was like she never realised the danger that came with it.

“We do make a good team. Do you think they will give us a few days off this time?” Freya asked, as they started to make their way back to the car.

“Who knows, though I doubt it.” Merlin sighed, turning to glance one last time at the scene to make sure they hadn’t left any evidence. On the upper level in the corner Merlin caught sight of bright white lights fading out of sight.

“There! Did you see them?” he shouted, drawing Morgana and Freya’s attention.

“See what?” they replied in unison, looking to where Merlin was pointing.

“The bright white lights.” Merlin explained tiredly, knowing already that they clearly hadn’t seen anything. They had had this conversation before.

Merlin had been noticing the bright white lights a lot lately. They were almost like orbs that you see on ghost pictures but there were lots of them, concentrated onto one spot, and brighter. He had been noticing them ever since they fought the demon from the future and Merlin hurt his head. He woke up perfectly fine but he distinctly remembered seeing the bright orbs before he lost consciousness, he had been seeing them more and more ever since. Usually when they were fighting one demon or another and never in plain view. It was always in the corner of his eye or at a backwards glance, there one moment, gone the next. Unfortunately he was the only one to see them. And they never believed him.

“Again with the white lights Merlin,” Freya said exhausted.

“I’m starting to think that this demon vanquishing has gone to your head, that or the stress of work is finally starting to make you crack.” Morgana added, nudging his shoulder with hers whilst grinning.

It’s true that his work is stressful. He was back at the restaurant Quake. The restaurant had called him three days after he had quit to inform him that Alvarr had been fired by the owners, he was caught trying to fiddle the books, and Merlin was offered the job in his place. He still didn’t like it much but now that Alvarr was gone there was a lot less pressure involved and he could finally do things properly, which meant hiring the right people to do the right job so he didn’t have to do it all.

In one call he had his job back and a promotion, it was better than no job at all and he at least got a few days off to recharge his batteries. He still didn’t get to cook, well not much, a little bit here and there. Yes it was stressful but nowhere near as much as when Alvarr was in charge and certainly not stressful enough for him to imagine bright white orbs.

“They were there, I’m not seeing things.” He insisted as they got into the car to go home and hopefully bed.

“Sure they were, and I’m a pixie,” Morgana replied sarcastically.

“Hey! Careful what you say, we don’t need another transformation,” Freya exclaimed whilst glancing at Merlin. Clearly thinking about the time that Merlin got turned into a Wendigo, a werewolf like creature. That was not fun. “Not while I got this big presentation tomorrow. I need to impress my new bosses.”  

“Ooh need any help?” Morgana asked, taking Freya by surprise.

“Sure, that would be really good actually, are you sure?”

“Of course, besides if I spend another day in that house on my own I may be the one to start cracking.” Morgana laughed.

“I’m not cracking, they were there.” Merlin mumbled to himself glancing back one last time as they drove out of the parking lot, even though he knew the orbs would be gone.

Merlin turned back to the front to find both girls deep in discussion about the presentation, Merlin and his lights forgotten. Merlin crossed his arms over his chest with a huff.

Despite feeling slightly ignored he couldn’t help but marvel at how well Morgana and Freya got on now. It wasn’t that long ago when he thought they would never get on with all the arguing they did. Now they were like two peas in a pod.

Merlin left them to it for a little while, before he started to feel a bit left out “How are your new bosses anyway?” Merlin asked, “Cenred and Morgause was it?”

“Well it’s a little too early to tell yet, they haven’t been there that long,” Freya replied, “But so far they seem okay. Cenred has been really nice, if not a little too nice. Morgause doesn’t like me very much, but I think that is jealously. I think they may be together but I’m not sure, Morgause definitely wants to be if they are not”.

“Is he hot?” Morgana asked.

“Erm I wouldn’t say hot, but I wouldn’t kick him out of bed either.”

“Do you like him?” Merlin asked.

“Gods no! You know me, I don’t mix business with pleasure.” Freya laughed.

“Well it’s no wonder you never have any fun, with that attitude.” Morgana said, “All you do is work, you don’t leave time for fun and you really need more fun in life Freya.”

“Yes and you have too much fun Morgana,” Freya retorted.

“There’s no such thing as too much fun.” Morgana said, matter of factly.

“I’m not ready, not after Will,” Freya said quietly.

Will is Freya’s ex-boyfriend. And also a detective, he started to get suspicious with the amount of times the three of them were around crime scenes, so Freya told him the truth. Under a truth spell so that if he reacted badly he wouldn’t remember anything. Will didn’t react badly but it wasn’t positive either. Personally Merlin thought he just needed more time and he would have come around.

“Have you heard from Will?” Merlin asked softly.

“Yes. He keeps calling, he doesn’t remember anything so he can’t understand why I have backed off and keeping my distance.”

“I still think he just needed more time, it was an awful lot to take in in a short space of time.” Merlin said voicing his thoughts. “Will is a good man and he has already dealt with supernatural cases. His suspicions are not going to go away.”

“That’s why I’m keeping my distance because I can’t go through that again.”

 

***

 

Arthur orbed out once he was confident the demon was vanquished and the Charmed Ones were okay. He had been doing that a lot lately, orbing in at the last moment to make sure things went according to plan. He was certain that Merlin had seen him a few times he but hadn’t said anything to him. After all he would have only seen his orbs and not Arthur himself. Arthur knew it was risky and he was increasing the chances of exposing himself, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t relax until he saw they were safe with his own two eyes.

He had never felt so overprotective over his charges before, he kept telling himself that they were The Charmed Ones, that they were a special case. But Arthur knew that was only part of it. He had gotten attached to all three of them, especially Merlin, he was almost like part of the family.

His relationship with Merlin was great, fantastic even. With the exception of the big fat lies hovering over them both like a big black cloud. With Merlin hiding his magic and Arthur hiding the fact that he was a White-Lighter, it was only a matter of time before lightning struck. And both his and Merlin’s lies and secrets were revealed.

He understood why Merlin lied. He knew it was imperative that they kept their magic a secret. Arthur already knew about Merlin’s magic but Merlin didn’t know he was a White-Lighter. But otherwise they were really good, they got on really, really well, the sex was absolutely amazing. Arthur knew he loved Merlin and had done since he met him. He is convinced that Merlin is his soul mate but he couldn’t say those three words while he was still hiding a large part of himself from him.

The Elders had finally come back with a decision as to whether or not he should reveal himself. They said no, he was disappointed but not surprised. Elder Kilgharrah had told him that The Elders were frightened of the Charmed Ones power. Merlin even more so, as he stands to be the most powerful of them all.

This was a mistake in Arthur’s opinion, he felt it would do more harm than good to keep his abilities and their existence a secret. He felt the Charmed Ones needed to know that there were others fighting the good fight that they had someone to go to for help and advice. After all that was his main role, to guide them along the right path. It would make things an awful lot easier if they knew they had someone to turn to for guidance. Not to mention he hated lying to them and spying on them, especially Merlin. He had tried arguing with The Elders but it was useless once they had made their minds up.

Elder Kilgharrah had encouraged him to look up some of the many prophesies concerning the Charmed Ones, said that they included others as well as the Charmed Ones.

Between his charges and his relationship with Merlin, Arthur found himself with very little spare time. It was a few weeks later when Arthur got his chance. The Charmed Ones dad had died, so Arthur thought it would be best if he backed off a bit and give them some space and family time together. Arthur announced that he had to go away for a week or two, something he had been doing a lot of lately to avoid suspicion and to tend to his other charges. Something that he hated, he hated being away from Merlin for any length of time. This was the first time in his White-Lighter life that he actually resented The Elders for putting him in this position. But Arthur used this and took the opportunity to do some research into the prophesies.

Even then it took a while to find the right ones, as the Charmed Ones were prophesised to do many things. But he eventually found them hidden in the back of the library of magic school, in an old store room that was hidden behind an old book shelf. Arthur found them by chance, he was pulling books down from the shelf when he found one that appeared to be stuck. When he pulled harder on the old book it triggered a mechanism that swung the bookshelf round and he found himself in an old store room that had not been used for decades judging by the amount of cobwebs and dust. In it he found many old books but most importantly ones that contained the prophesies he was looking for.

Kilgharrah was right about the prophesies, they don’t name him by name, they don’t even name the Charmed Ones by name expect for Merlin. It was obvious when the prophesies were made that the Charmed Ones would include a Merlin. There was a Merlin born into almost each generation of the Emrys line and was always the most powerful around. So it was clear that the three most important and powerful magic users destined ever, the Charmed Ones, would include a Merlin

They did however make reference to Merlin’s soul mate or Merlin’s anchor, this would explain Kilgharrah’s grin when Arthur asked about soul mates. They also made reference to the Charmed One’s guardian that guides them on the path to greatness, was that him too? But apparently Merlin’s soul mate was also needed to trigger a rebirth of an old great magical race. Unfortunately it didn’t elaborate on what this old great race was. It could be any number of old extinct magical races unicorns, dragons, phoenix’s or Pegasus’s to name a few. There were many races that hadn’t been seen for hundreds of years, many of which were now myths and rumours but then so was magic to humans.

Arthur had just finished reading this when he was summoned by The Elders and had to orb up to them were was faced with four of them.

“Elders.” Arthur bowed his head in respect as he greeted them.

“Arthur.” The Elders returned as one.

“You called for me?”

“Indeed we did.” One of the Elders replied. Unfortunately Arthur did not know which Elders he was faced with as they kept their hoods to their cloaks up which concealed their faces. “There are matters we wish to discuss with you.”

“Of course Elders.” Arthur said. His stomach was in knots. Did they know about his relationship with Merlin? He would be in big trouble if they did. White-Lighters were forbidden to be romantically involved with witches, wizards or warlocks, not that that stopped him. They would have to clip his wings and ground him up here in the heavens to keep him away from Merlin.

“We feel that you’re spending far too much time with the Charmed Ones, we feel that you are getting too attached and neglecting your other charges.”

“That’s crap!” Arthur shouted.

The Elders immediately started murmuring to themselves at his outburst, they sounded like a bunch of chickens clucking away to Arthur. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself before continuing.

“Sorry, that’s a load of codswallop.” He said with a touch more respect, “I have never once let a charge down and I’m not about to start now.”

“You can’t deny that you spend more time watching over the Charmed Ones than you have ever done with any other charge.”

“Of course I am spending a lot of time with them. There are three of them, they require three times the work, three times attention which therefore takes three times the time.” Arthur explained as though this should have been obvious, which in his mind it was. “And since you won’t allow me to reveal myself and interact in their lives properly, I have no choice but to resort to spying. This takes longer in order to remain hidden.” Arthur finished, bringing up their old argument.

“We are not getting into that debate again.” One of The Elders clucked, “We still feel that you are getting too attached and with this in mind we are giving you another charge, her name is Guinevere Smith, she is a future White-Lighter that is being hunted by a Dark-Lighter.”

“Another one!” Arthur exclaimed, he had no idea where he was supposed to find the time to take care of another charge. He would do his best of course, if someone needed his help he would give it gladly. Hopefully she would be a short term charge.

“Are you refusing a charge?” The Elders asked.

“No of course not.”

“Good, Elder Kilgharrah will give you the information you need. And we will be keeping a close eye on you.” The Elders warned, before quickly departing leaving one behind. The remaining Elder stepped forward and lowered his hood to reveal a wise worried old wrinkled, leather looking face, who Arthur recognised instantly.

“Kilgharrah,” Arthur greeted with a warm smile. Always happy to see his old mentor.

“Walk with me young Arthur.” Kilgharrah said grimly, leading him further away from the other Elders.

“Why are they suddenly concerned with the amount of time I spend with the Charmed Ones?” Arthur asked.

“They are getting suspicious of the closeness of your relationship with Merlin, I believe it would be best if you back off from your relationship for a bit.” Kilgharrah admitted. Kilgharrah was the only Elder who know of their relationship and had actually encouraged it from the beginning.

“If I back off anymore there won’t be a relationship.” Arthur protested. He is certainly not going to back off, his relationship felt barely non-existent these days as it was. “I’m pretty sure that Merlin at the least is getting suspicious of me because I keep having to run off to my other charges, and now I have got another one.”

“Try not to worry too much young Arthur, I am not the only one who believes in the old prophesies, you do have other supporters. The others are letting their fear rule them at the moment.”

“Their fear of Merlin?” Arthur asked and Kilgharrah nodded. “That’s just ridiculous! Merlin wouldn’t hurt a fly, well unless it was a demon fly.” Merlin knew how to kick arse but the idea that The Elders were afraid of him was still absurd to Arthur.

“But they don’t know that.” Kilgharrah consoled.

“Only because they insist on keeping themselves a secret.” Arthur sighed, “Honestly Kilgharrah they are supposed to be the wise ones, they should know that hiding from your problems won’t make them go away.”

“Sometimes young Arthur you display more wisdom than all of The Elders put together.” Kilgharrah grinned.

“Thank you.” Arthur blushed at the compliment. They were silent for a few moments before Arthur sighed again and asked about his new charge.

“Her name is Guinevere Smith and she is a future White-Lighter.” Kilgharrah repeated. “She became romantically involved with a man named Helios. But then Helios revealed his true colours as a Dark-Lighter and Gwen ran. Helios is hunting her and chasing her because he claims he loves her and he is killing everyone who gets in his way.”

“How am I supposed to do this without revealing myself?”

“You can reveal yourself to Gwen as she already knows about the magical world.”

“So it’s one rule for one and another for someone else is it?” Arthur huffed.

“That’s about the gist of it yes.” Kilgharrah chuckled. “You can do this Arthur, I have every faith in you.” Kilgharrah assured whilst squeezing Arthur’s shoulder. “Maybe…” Kilgharrah hesitated.

“Maybe what?”

“Maybe you could get the Charmed Ones to help.” Kilgharrah finished.

“And how do I do that?” Arthur scoffed.

“Trust your instincts Arthur.” Kilgharrah said with meaning, before leaving him alone. Kilgharrah had been saying that a lot lately. Arthur was sure Kilgharrah was hinting at something he just didn’t know what.

Arthur shook his head to clear his thoughts of Elders, Charmed Ones, Merlin and prophesies he had a charge to focus on, he had to go find Gwen before Helios did.

 

***

 

Merlin got home from work exhausted only to find Morgana and Freya bickering loudly in the kitchen. Merlin quickly hung his coat up and rushed into the kitchen before it could get out of hand. “Girls!” he shouted drawing their attention. “What is going on?”

Both Morgana and Freya immediately started talking at the same time so that Merlin was unable to make anything out. “One at a time.” He said holding his hands up in surrender. “I take it this is about the presentation at Camelot today.”

“No this is about Freya unable to keep her nose out of my private life.” Morgana started.

“No this is about Morgana unable to keep her knickers on and not flirt with my boss.” Freya shouted.

“It wasn’t flirting.”

“It was and you know it,” Freya insisted.

“You were flirting with Cenred,” Merlin asked a little surprised. Morgana hadn’t flirted with anyone since she tried to make a play for Arthur, before Merlin got there of course.

“Oh no, not Cenred.” Freya said hotly, “Morgause. The one that hates me and is still my boss.”

“Morgause?” Merlin asked confused, “Isn’t Morgause a woman?”

“Like that would stop her.” Freya retorted, meanwhile Morgana was being suspiciously quiet.

“Morgana?”

“What’s there to say? She can’t deny it I was there.” Freya continued.

“Freya shush,” Merlin said loudly, “Let Morgana speak.” He said more softly.

Freya opened her mouth to speak again, but with a glare from Merlin she closed it. Realising she had gone too far she mumbled a quick “Sorry.” In Morgana’s direction.

“Okay Morgana,” Merlin said gently, “What’s going on?”

Morgana leaned back against the counter with her arms folded across her chest and sighed, “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Merlin asked softly.

“It wasn’t flirting,” Morgana repeated, pointing a small glare at Freya who remained silent but looked like she was taking in every word Morgana was saying. “But we were being very very friendly. I have never been attracted to women before but I found myself being drawn to her, I have never even been this drawn to a man before.”

“Are you attracted to Morgause?” Merlin asked.

“No….Yes….N…I don’t know,” Morgana sighed.

“I understand that your confused Morgana, trust me I have been where you are. It’s okay to be attracted to Morgause, just because you are attracted to her doesn’t make you a lesbian or bi it just makes you attracted to Morgause. Don’t over think it just let it simply be.” Relief washed over Morgana’s face as she gave Merlin a nod and a small smile. “And Freya isn’t going to give you any grief over this, are you Freya?”

Freya sighed but was much calmer, “The main issue I have with this is that it’s my boss.”

“I tell you what,” Morgana said gaining back her confidence. “I don’t know what this is, it may be nothing yet, but whatever it is I promise we won’t talk about you or work and we will our ‘flirtations’ outside the your office.” Morgana said making quotation marks with her fingers when she said ‘flirtations’.

“Fine, it’s just that I have a really bad feeling about those two that’s all.” Merlin’s heart sank. He really wished she hadn’t said that. Most of Freya’s bad feelings tend to be proved right.

“You leave the sightseeing to me.” Morgana grinned making Freya smile in return.

Merlin shook off his worries, the girls were right he worries too much, and forced a smile. “Great now that’s all sorted out maybe I can get some dinner I’m starving.” Merlin said, making his way to the fridge. Unfortunately he was too exhausted to make anything decent so he settled on a ham and cheese sandwich. And maybe a couple of biscuits he thought to himself with a smile.

“Hey Merlin?” Morgana asked.

“Yeah?”

“When is Arthur back?”

“Why?” Merlin asked in return without looking up, not wanting to say he didn’t know. He didn’t know much with Arthur these days.

“There is a bee’s nest outside on the front porch, I was hoping he could remove it.”

“I will deal with it tomorrow.” Merlin said, “I will probably be quicker.” He mumbled at the end.

“You’re allergic Merlin,” Freya said.

“Trouble in paradise?” Morgana asked at the same time.

Merlin huffed while he continued to make his sandwich not looking either one in the eye, “I will freeze them-“

“Outside where people can see?” Freya interrupted.

“At night.”

“And Arthur?” Morgana asked when Merlin didn’t offer up the information.

“I don’t know, it’s probably nothing and I’m just over reacting.”

“Explain it to us and we will tell you,” Freya said.

“Well it’s like when we have to rush off to vanquish a demon and I have to give him an excuse as to why I’m leaving suddenly or have to cancel a date, he never complains. No matter how lame my excuse is, and trust me some of them have been pretty lame, but he doesn’t even bat an eyelid.” Merlin paused. “I know I should be grateful that I have an understanding boyfriend but he is a little too understanding at times. There’s just something about it that doesn’t feel right.”

“He loves you Merlin, people who are in love are more understanding and tolerant.” Morgana pondered out loud, “Do you love him?”

“Yes.” Merlin replied instantly.

“Have you told him?” Morgana asked.

“No. I want too, I have even tried but there is something holding me back. But it’s not just that there are other things too.”

“Like what?”

“Like how he keeps rushing off too, giving me his own lame excuse but I can’t say anything because then I would feel like a hypocrite and I don’t really want to draw attention to my own lame excuses. Plus there is the fact that we never go back to his place, I have never seen his place, I don’t even know where he lives. And he seems to be disappearing more and more lately, I barely see him anymore.” Merlin hesitated to ask the question he wanted to ask, fearing that he might be right. But he had to ask to make sure it wasn’t just in his head, “Do you think he is cheating on me? Or has lost interest in me? Maybe he doesn’t want to be with me anymore.”

“No! No Merlin of course not, anyone can see that he absolutely adores you.” Morgana said quickly making Merlin release the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Isn’t that right Freya?”

Freya didn’t answer, she was clearly deep in thought. Merlin felt himself starting to panic, “Freya?” he asked gaining her attention.

“No I don’t think he is cheating on you Merlin.” Relief washed over Merlin for a second time.

“But?” he asked knowing there was more.

“I really hate to say this Merlin, but have you considered the possibility that he is a demon?”

“What!?” Merlin said meekly, feeling the panic return. That was something he hadn’t actually considered and he should have, considering it has happened to him before.

“Well you said it yourself, he is far too understanding, he disappears a lot, maybe he hasn’t taken you back to his place because he doesn’t have one.”

“Damn,” Freya was right. Merlin sat down heavily onto a chair his sandwich lay forgotten. “Morgana what do you think?”

“I think it’s unlikely,” Morgana said, “But you’re right, something is definitely not right and it is a possibility. We will have to perform a demon test to be sure.”

“A demon test? There is a demon test and we are only just learning about this now?”

Morgana rolled her eyes, “Honestly Merlin don’t you read? It’s in the Book of Shadows.”

Merlin tried not to look too sheepish. He honestly hadn’t read much of the book at all. Only what he needed too as and when he needed too. “I keep meaning to get around to it.” He said honestly “I just never seem to have the time.”

“Well you should make the time.” Morgana admonished. “The demon test is quiet simple really, all you have to do is make him bleed, most demons don’t bleed.”

“Right so I could just prick him with a needle or something?”

“That would do it.” Morgana nodded.

At that moment there was a knock on the front door and Morgana went to answer it. “Are you okay Merlin?” Freya asked while they were alone.

Merlin nodded, “I will be next time I see Arthur, I’m going to prick him.” Merlin looked up with an evil grin “I’m going to prick the prat. I hope I don’t pop his inflated ego.” Merlin laughed at his own joke.

“Riiiight,” Freya said looking concerned for Merlin’s mental health. Freya picked up Merlin’s sandwich off the counter and placed it in front of him. “Eat!” Freya ordered. Merlin obeyed acting on automatic his mind was in a state of frozen panic.

Morgana came back a few moments later looking almost beside herself with glee. “What are you so happy about?” Freya asked.

“Morgause.” Morgana said as if that answered everything.

“What about Morgause?” Freya asked biting her lip.

“She invited me to a concert on Friday night, we are going to see the Imagine Dragons. I have always wanted to see them, I can’t wait.”

The mention of Friday was enough to shake Merlin from his thoughts, “Does that mean you are not going to dad’s funeral on Friday then?”

“Not anymore no.”

“Morgana” Merlin started.

“Merlin.” Morgana copied, “Honestly I wasn’t sure if I going in the first place.”

“Freya?” Merlin asked.

“No Merlin.” Freya said firmly.

“Right so I will be the only one then?” Merlin huffed.

“Honestly Merlin we don’t see why you are going.” Morgana said.

“To pay my respects, I didn’t like the man, but I didn’t wish him dead.” Merlin snapped.

“We didn’t wish him dead either,” Morgana insisted. “But I don’t see the point of going to pay my respects to a man who walked out on us and had nothing to with us for nearly twenty years.”

“But-“

“Morgana’s right Merlin,” Freya interrupted, “It doesn’t feel right to go and mourn a man I never knew, it would be like going to a stranger’s funeral.”

“Besides I can pay my respect, respect that his sperm created us, privately.” Morgana finished, as if that was the end of it. “I’m going to bed.” And that really was the end of it.

 

***

 

Arthur had found Gwen easily enough, now that she was his official charge he was attuned to her and sensed her panic. He found her in a hotel room in the process of barricading the door when he orbed in.

“Ahhhhh” Gwen screamed and grabbed a floor lamp and pointed it at Arthur. “Who are you? What are you?” Gwen was a dark skinned girl with long brown curls and eyes the colour of warm chocolate.

“I’m here to help,” Arthur said gently, holding up both of his hands to show he was unarmed. “My name is Arthur.”

“Okay Arthur but what are you? Did Helios send you?” Gwen demanded as she back further away from Arthur.

“No I’m not with Helios, Helios is the Dark-Lighter chasing you? Correct?” Arthur confirmed.

“Yes.”

“I’m a White-Lighter, we are the opposite of a Dark-Lighter.”

“What does a White-Lighter do?” Gwen asked relaxing a little and letting the lamp drop to point at the floor.

“We are more like Guardian Angels. And I’m here to help you.”

“But what can you do? I’ve seen Helios he has killed people he will probably just kill you too, so its best if you leave.”

“First things first, where is he now?” Arthur asked glancing at the barricaded door.

“I saw him downstairs a few moments ago,” Gwen said adding the lamp to the pile. “He will be here any moment.”

Arthur approached Gwen slowly, “I can shield you if you let me, it will remove you from his sight so you will be invisible to him. He could be standing in this room with us and he still wouldn’t see you.”

Gwen nodded as loud fast banging started on the other side of the door. “GUINEVERE!” an angry shout was heard throughout most of the building.

Arthur rushed forward and put his hand on Gwen’s head. He closed his eyes as he focused his energy into Gwen bathing her in a warm safe feeling as his hand started to glow. The soft white glow moved to cover the whole of Gwen’s body.

“GUINEVERE! I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE!” The banging on the door now became so fierce that the hinges and handle started to rattle as the barricade started to fall apart.

Gwen smiled up at Arthur when he had finished, Arthur returned her smile. “It’s not a long term solution, but it will buy us some time.” Arthur said as a red glow shone through around the edges of the door. “When I say run, you run. He won’t be able to find you.”

“Thank you.” Gwen smiled, even as the door to the room started to disintegrate along with the barricade. Arthur pushed Gwen to the side of the door and took a few steps back making himself the first immediate target.

A tall dark skinned muscular man now stood where the door was. His head was hairless though there was hair around his mouth in the form of a goatee. Helios also wore a large golden earing in one ear and a tattoo of a crossbow on the left side of his neck. This tattoo is what identified him as a Dark-Lighter. This was meant as an intimidation method against White-Lighters, however it did not work on Arthur.

“Where is she White-Lighter?” Helios demanded. Arthur didn’t answer he just shrugged his shoulders.

“I know you know where she is.” Helios advanced into the room. “I will only ask one more time, where. Is. She.” Helios glared as he continued to advance, not taking his eyes off Arthur.

“RUN!” Arthur shouted, once Helios was firmly in the room and past Gwen. But Gwen was already ahead of him and was almost through the door when Helios spun around. While Helios had his back turned Arthur orbed out and down the stairs to make sure Gwen had made it.

Gwen ran straight into him as he became solid and he had to reach out and catch her to stop her from falling. Arthur used his orbing skills to orb a coach ticket to himself. “Here, get on this bus and I will meet you at the other end, I have some friends who will be able to help us.”

“Thank you.” Gwen repeated, taking the ticket as if it held her salvation. Arthur guessed it did in a way.

Arthur nodded, “Now come on,” Arthur said grabbing her hand and pulled her further down the stairs. “I will see you out of the building but we will separate then. Helios will most likely follow me because he can no longer see you.”

“Okay, but only if you are sure you will be okay.”

Arthur smiled to himself, this was why she was a future White-Lighter, always putting others before themselves. “I’m sure, trust me, I have done this before.”

Once they were out at the front of the building, Arthur gave Gwen a gentle shove in the direction of the coach station then he ran around the back of the building and orbed out. There had been no sign of Helios since the hotel room, but Arthur didn’t except there to be. Arthur knew the Dark-Lighter would already being trying to trace him. As much as Arthur loathed to lead the Dark-Lighter to the Charmed Ones and to Merlin he didn’t see any other option. Kilgharrah was right he would need their help with this one.

He did have an idea, it was a long shot and was guaranteed to raise some suspicion but it was all Arthur had. A part of Arthur wanted them to be suspicious that way if they were to find out all by themselves he couldn’t be blamed by The Elders, though Merlin would certainly blame him.

 

 

Arthur used his senses to make sure no one was around before orbing in front of Merlin’s house and ringing the doorbell. Arthur frowned when the bell made no sound, looking around the door for any obvious signs as to why the doorbell didn’t work he noticed the bee’s nest in the top corner of the porch. Arthur felt a twinge of guilt it was his job to keep everything about the house in working order, it seems he’s been more neglectful than he thought. Though the bee’s nest shouldn’t interfere with the doorbell, it was just another job that needed doing.

Arthur knocked on the door instead and it was soon answered by Merlin. “Arthur!” Merlin exclaimed surprised. Arthur felt another twinge of guilt. It was nice to surprise his boyfriend but he shouldn’t be that surprised.

“Merlin.” Arthur grinned and immediately folded Merlin into a tight bear hug, he had missed Merlin more than he had realised. “I missed you.” Arthur spoke his thoughts directly into Merlin’s ear.

Merlin didn’t hesitate to return the hug. “I missed you too.” Merlin replied gruffly.

They stood there for what felt like seconds tightly embracing each other until the sound of someone clearing their throat brought them back to reality.

Freya was standing a little way behind Merlin with her arms crossed and she did not look pleased. “Hello Freya.” Arthur greeted.

“Arthur.” Freya returned. Arthur reluctantly released Merlin, something felt off here but Arthur had no idea what.

“Merlin, don’t forget about that thing.” Freya said cryptically, clearly not intending for Arthur to understand what she was on about.

“Oh, right yeah.” Merlin replied regretfully. The next thing Arthur knew his hand was stinging and when he looked down he was bleeding, it was only a pin prick but it bothered Arthur a little as he had no idea how he got it.

“Oh Arthur, your hand is bleeding. There is a bee’s nest outside one of them must have got you.” Merlin exclaimed, looking oddly happy about it.

Arthur’s stomach sank to the floor, he knew what this was and it was no bee sting. He would have known if it was a bee sting, there was no sting for a starter and most of nature left White-Lighters alone for another. No this was a demon test, a very basic demon test but effective. This meant that Merlin and the others were definitely suspicious of him and clearly felt a reason to mistrust him.

Arthur swallowed back the lump in his throat, “There’s no need to look so happy about it Merlin.” Arthur tried to grin but felt it came out as more of a grimace.

“Oh I’m not, you’re not allergic are you? Hold on right there and I will get you some antiseptic cream for it, we don’t want it getting infected.” Merlin rushed out all at once before quickly disappearing into the direction of the kitchen, leaving Arthur alone with Freya.

“Do you remember that conversation we had about what would happen if you hurt Merlin?” Freya asked quietly. Looking Arthur directly in the eyes. Arthur fought back the shudder that was threating to trail down his back, Freya was scary when she was like this. It was like her eyes were burning holes into his sould.

“It’s engraved into my memory, yes.”

“Good,” Freya nodded. “Consider this a gentle reminder.” She finished before tailing after Merlin into the kitchen. Leaving Arthur alone for a moment.

They thought he was a demon, Arthur thought as he ran his hand through his hair. Him a demon! Arthur didn’t know what to do with that. He was a White-Lighter! A force for good not evil. He knew he had given them cause to be suspicious but he didn’t think their suspicions would lead them to that conclusion.

But the more Arthur thought about it the more he should have realised they would think that. They haven’t dealt with any of the good from the magical world, not really. And Merlin did actually unknowingly date a demon before Arthur. He could he be so stupid of course they would think he was a demon, he was always running off at a moment’s notice and would disappear for days at a time. It was usually to help a charge but they didn’t know this.

Arthur wasn’t left to dwell on his thoughts for long as Merlin soon returned with some cream that was not really needed, his hand had already stopped bleeding.

“Wait!” Arthur said and grabbed the sides of Merlin’s head with both hands, leant forward and kissed him, hard. It was a closed mouth kiss but Arthur tried to convey all of his feelings for Merlin in that one kiss. Despite being closed mouth it left them both breathless.

“What was that for?” Merlin gasped.

“No reason, it just felt like too long since I did that, I didn’t want to go another moment without it.” Arthur smiled.

“Very smooth Arthur.” Merlin laughed.

“Yes I thought so.” Arthur said softening his smile. “But I still meant it.” Arthur beamed as this earned him another quick kiss from Merlin. The supposed bee sting forgotten about.

 

“I’m sorry Merlin.” Arthur said softly, once they had got more comfortable, laying down on Merlin’s bed in his room. At least here they had a little privacy.

“What for?” Merlin asked from his position where his head was using Arthur’s chest as a pillow, while Arthur was slowly stroking his hand up and down Merlin’s spine.

“For everything.” Arthur murmured. “For not being around much lately, for not doing the things that need doing and for the fact that I’m not going to be able to stay for very long.”

“What? You’re leaving again?” Merlin said, sitting up.

“Only to run some errands.” Arthur soothed encouraging Merlin to lie back down, he was already missing his warmth. “I have a friend who is in a bit of trouble, I need to go pick her up from the bus station soon. I’m really worried about her actually.”

“Her?” Merlin asked cautiously.

Arthur grinned, “Relax Merlin, I am completely and one hundred percent gay remember.”

“Oh,” Merlin replied, “I wasn’t worried.”

“Of course you weren’t.” Arthur teased.

“So what’s the problem? Can I help?” Arthur smiled to himself. If Merlin wasn’t a Warlock then he would definitely be a White-Lighter with the way he cared about everyone, even people he didn’t know.

“Well she was involved with this guy,” Arthur started.

Merlin snorted, “Naturally.” Arthur felt Merlin relax properly in his arms. “I should have known there was a guy involved.”

“Let me tell the story, will you?” Arthur said poking Merlin in the ribs causing him to squirm. “So anyway Gwen was involved with this guy” Arthur started again. “He is a horrid man, I have never liked him. Helios is a mean bully who doesn’t like it if he doesn’t get his way.” Arthur invented.

Arthur hated manipulating Merlin like this. He wasn’t going to be able to do this for much longer, he is going to have to tell Merlin the truth soon, The Elders be damned. “Why she was ever with him I will never know, anyway it soon turned sour and she is trying to leave but he is not letting go. Everywhere she has gone he has followed her.”

“Is he violent towards her?” Merlin asked.

“If he wasn’t before he is now. I have always felt something off about him, odd things tend to happen when he is around.” Arthur felt Merlin tense before sitting up to show Arthur he had his complete attention.

“Odd? Odd how?”

This is where Arthur had to be careful, he didn’t want to give Merlin the wrong information and lead them to the wrong demon. “Well it probably doesn’t sound like much but Helios has this habit of appearing out of thin air, he could be in one part of town one moment and then right next to Gwen, who was on the other side of town, in the next moment, honestly the man has some serious stealth skills. And no matter where Gwen is he can always find her.”

“Anything else that’s odd?” Merlin asked and then proceeded to chew on his lip, which became very distracting for Arthur.

“Um…A lot of things get burnt when he is around and not food either, once I found a handprint burnt into her sofa and things break by themselves even when no one is around. He is obsessed with crossbow weaponry. He actually has a crossbow and even has one tattooed on the side of his neck.” Arthur said, giving him the information he would need to find the Dark-Lighter in the Book of Shadows. Arthur sighed to himself, more manipulation. That was it after he got Gwen sorted, he is going to tell Merlin the truth. He would do it now but he couldn’t risk Merlin falling out with him with Helios about.

“Where is she going to stay, with you?” Merlin asked.

“Until we can come up with something better, yeah. Though it’s not ideal, my place is really small and barely habitable at the best of times. But we will make it work, it’s only until she can shake Helios off.”

“And what if this Helios guy follows her to your place?”

“Then he will have me to deal with.”

Merlin sat there for a few moments and continued to bite his lip. “What if Gwen was to stay here with us?”

“What? No Merlin I can’t ask that from you.” Arthur lied. That was exactly what he was hoping for.

“You wasn’t asking, I was offering. And it makes a lot of sense when you think about it.”

“How so?”

“Well not only do we have plenty of room but you would still have to work, what if this Helios turns up when you are in work? At least if he comes here there will be three of us for him to deal with, four counting you.” Merlin hesitated and started blushing slightly, “You are more than welcome to stay too you know.” Merlin said, not looking at Arthur and his blush getting redder. “You know, so you can keep an eye on her too.”

“Merlin,” Arthur said softly, leaning forward and putting his hand on Merlin’s cheek stroking his cheekbone with his thumb. “You don’t have to create excuses to get me to stay with you.”

“It kinda feels like I have too lately. I mean are you not interested in us anymore?” Merlin asked, indicating between the two of them.

“Oh Merlin.” Arthur said guiltily, and pulled Merlin into another hug. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I promise one day I will explain everything to you.”

“When?” Came a muffled reply.

“One day soon, I promise.”

“I’m sorry,” Merlin said getting more comfortable and wrapping his arms around Arthur’s waist. “I don’t mean to push you into telling me something before you are ready. It’s just so frustrating at times.”

“That’s not it Merlin, it’s a little more complicated than that.” Arthur said thinking of The Elders. “But I promise I will tell you everything, soon.” This was a promise Arthur fully intended to make good on, the guilt alone was tearing him apart but to have Merlin doubt them, doubt him! Was too much.

“Okay, I guess I can live with that.”

“So it’s settled then?” Merlin asked after a few moments. “Gwen stays here?”

“Only if you are sure Merlin.” Arthur replied giving Merlin an extra squeeze.

“I’m sure.”

“What about Morgana and Freya?”

“Don’t worry about them they will be fine with it. What about you? Will you be staying?” Merlin asked sheepishly. Arthur swore he could feel Merlin’s blush through his shirt.

“I promise I will stick around as much as I can, and not just for Gwen” Arthur reassured.

They were silent for a few moments basking in each other’s embrace until Arthur remembered about Merlin’s dad which caused another sting of guilt in his gut.

“When’s your father’s funeral?” Arthur asked quietly.

“Tomorrow.” Merlin replied stiffly.

“Are you going? Do you want me to come with you?”

“Morgana and Freya refuse to go.” Merlin replied ignoring the first question.

“What about you?” Arthur persisted.

“I don’t want too, I really don’t want. His family will be there, he had another daughter with his second wife. But I feel like I should.”

“I think you need to go for you, that you will regret it if you don’t.”

“Hmmm maybe.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Arthur asked.

“Are you not busy?”

“I will be here anyway Merlin. Though I will be on call.” He was permanently on call but he couldn’t explain that to Merlin just yet. “What time?”

“Two. Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.”

Arthur squeezed Merlin and then rolled them over so that Merlin was on his back and Arthur was on top. “I’m really sorry but I have to go and pick Gwen up.” Arthur said as he nuzzled into Merlin’s neck.

“Then don’t start anything you can’t finish.” Merlin panted.

Arthur responded by sucking on Merlin’s pulse point. “Merely a preview for later.” Arthur chuckled.

“Arthur! Do you know how hard they are to hide, I will have to wear my scarf now.” Merlin said with a huff but was also wearing a big grin.

“Nah I like you wearing my mark, shows you are mine.”

“So you are going all caveman on me now is that it?”

“But I’m your caveman.” Arthur said as he pressed one last kiss onto Merlin’s lips, before getting up.

“So what does that make me?” Merlin asked.

“Prey?” Arthur grinned before ducking out the door.

 

Once Arthur was safely out of the house he orbed directly into a toilet cubicle at the bus station and went in search of Gwen. He made it to her just as her coach was pulling in.

“Hello Guinevere,” He greeted.

“Arthur!” Gwen smiled happily, looking very relieved. “Sorry but I half expected Helios to be here instead of you.”

“Sorry, I would have orbed you with me but I needed to check with my friends first, plus Helios can track my orbs, so I have to be careful.”

“Does that mean you are in danger?” Gwen asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry about me I can handle myself.”

“What about your friends? Aren’t we leading Helios directly to them too?”

“They can handle themselves better than I can, trust me I have seen them in action.” Arthur reassured. He didn’t like bringing danger to Merlin and the Charmed Ones but he was also telling the truth, he had every faith in their abilities and he knew he had dropped enough hints that Merlin would now be looking up the demon and find the Dark-Lighter.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to put anyone else in danger. Perhaps it would be best if I went to Helios at least then he would stop hurting people to get to me.”

“No absolutely not!” Arthur shouted grabbing her arm and making her face him. “There is no way we are going to let you turn yourself in like that. You are meant for bigger things than being a demons pet. We are here to protect you, it’s our job to protect you, and that’s what we are going to do, understood?” Arthur thought he might have been a little harsh on her but he knew if he didn’t, Gwen would most likely go off on her own to save everyone else.

Gwen nodded and smiled to show there were no hard feelings.

“Now,” Arthur said directing them to a little coffee shop on the corner. “First I need to talk to you and explain a few things and I’m afraid I have to ask a favour from you.”

“Of course, anything. You saved my life.” Gwen said following his lead.

“Wait until you hear what I have to say first.” Arthur said sincerely. After all he was about to ask her to lie for him. The fact that Gwen was future White-Lighter already tells him enough about her nature, tells him that she won’t like it.

“Right well my friends.” Arthur started, once they sat down with a coffee in the corner where they wouldn’t be overheard. “See my friends, they are witches, powerful witches.”

“Witches are real too?!” Gwen shrieked.

“Shhhh, keep your voice down.”

“Of course they are I mean demons and angels are real why not witches too” Gwen continued but in a lower voice.

“Well witches and warlock really.”

“Naturally,” Gwen sighed.

“Right anyway they are powerful witches and will be able to help, the thing is they don’t know that I know they are witches and they don’t know that I’m an angel either.”

“Why not? You told me straight away, if they are your friends you should tell them.” Gwen admonished seeming to forget the whole supernatural thing for the moment.

“One of them is my boyfriend actually,” Arthur admitted, “Not that my bosses know, I’m not allowed to me reveal myself to them-“

“Is your boss god?” Gwen interrupted.

“What? No” Arthur said a little taken back by the unexpected question. “They sometimes they think they are.” Arthur said unable to keep the resentment from out of his voice. “No my bosses are more head White-Lighters, they are more powerful and more experienced and supposed to be more wise but we all serve the greater good.” Arthur explained.

“So what is it you are asking of me then?” Gwen asked, sipping her coffee.

“Not to let on that you know they are witches, and warlock, unless they tell you, which they might.” They were still far too trusting in Arthur’s opinion. “But also not to let on that I know they are witches or that I am a White-Lighter.”

“So you want me to lie for you?”

“In a nut shell yes.” Arthur admitted.

“It’s wrong to lie Arthur, especially with something like this, and it’s hardly a little white lie is it.” Gwen admonished again. Arthur sighed preparing himself for the lecture. “You’re boyfriend sounds important to you and yet you are hiding a large part of yourself away.”

“Trust me Guinevere, I know all this already,” Arthur said wistfully, “It kills me to lie to him but if my boss finds then I will be in serious trouble.”

“Then why get involved in the first place?” Gwen asked, confused.

“Because I can’t stay away from him.”

“You love him.” Gwen stated.

Arthur nodded, “Yes, I’m certain he is my soul mate actually.” Arthur admitted with a small smile. “And I do intend to tell once all this with Helios is over.”

“But you just said you will be in serious trouble.” Gwen reminded.

“I know I did and I will, but I wasn’t kidding when I said this was killing me. I will tell them all consequences be damned, just not yet.”

Gwen sighed, “I don’t like it Arthur but you saved my life, how can I not agree to it? But promise me you will tell him.”

“I promise.” Arthur swore with his hand on his heart.

“So when do we go?” Gwen asked as she finished her drink.

“Right now, if that’s okay. Helios will be tracking me so I rather not stay out in the open longer than necessary, he shouldn’t attack with us being in public but I would rather not take my chances.” And hopefully he had given Merlin and the other’s long enough to do their research.

 

***

 

Merlin stayed as silent as he could until he heard the front door close, as soon as did he leapt up off the bed and rushed up the stairs into the attic, shouting “Family meeting!” along the way.

Merlin was torn between relieved and worried if that was at all possible. He was very pleased that Arthur had turned out not to be a demon, extremely relieved but Arthur more or less admitted that he was hiding something.

Merlin couldn’t think about that now he didn’t have a lot of time before Arthur and Gwen returned and he was certain that Gwen’s ex was a demon, not that Arthur knew that of course. At least he had managed to get some identifying features to make him easier to identify which demon he was.

Once in the attic he made his way over the pedestal where the Book of Shadows lived and immediately started to flick through it.

“Merlin? What’s wrong?”

“Is everything alright?” both Morgana and Freya asked as they entered the attic.

“We are going to have a guest stay with us for a little while, well an innocent actually.”

“What!?”

“Merlin!” They exclaimed at the same time.

“Don’t worry it’s only for a few days, until we catch the demon hunting her then she can go back home. And stop talking together like that it’s creepy.” Merlin said briefly looking up from the book.

“But that’s means hiding and creeping about in our own house.” Morgana wined.

“I didn’t have much choice. Gwen, the innocent is a friend of Arthur’s and it sounds like she is being hunted by a demon. I couldn’t very well let them go back to his where they would be vulnerable and defenceless could I?”

Both Morgana and Freya remained silent trying to find a hole in his logic.

“Look the sooner we identify the demon the sooner we can vanquish him and the sooner we can get this sorted. Morgana, you know this book better than any of us, do you remember seeing anything about a demon with a tattoo?”

“There are several demons with tattoos in there Merlin you will have to be more specific.” Morgana said.

“Arthur says he is obsessed with crossbows even has one tattooed on his neck. There was some other stuff too but I was hoping to use the tattoo to identify him.”

“I think there might be actually.” Morgana said as she took over from Merlin to flick through the book herself.

“Does Arthur know he is a demon?” Freya asked.

“No. As far as he is concerned Helios, the demon, is an ex of Gwen’s who is incredibly creepy. But he sounds like a demon to me from Arthur’s description.”

“Does this Gwen know?”

“I don’t know, it’s possible.”

“Here! I think I found him.” Morgana shouted, turning the book so that they could all see.

 

**_Dark-Lighters_ **

**_Dark-Lighters are on a mission to kill White-Lighters, which leaves their charges vulnerable to attack by the forces of evil._ **

**_They can orb through a process known as black orbing, and some can inflict a touch of death, in contrast to a White-Lighters healing power._ **

**_A Dark-Lighters crossbow is armed with arrows covered in a poison lethal to White-Lighters._ **

 

Next to this inscription was a picture of a man. A man with a shaved head and a large golden stud in one ear and a large crossbow tattooed on the side of his neck. The man in the picture even had a couple of scars on his face making him look like some sort of thug or mercenary.

Also at the bottom of the page was a vanquishing section: Potions, Athames, energy balls and they are sometimes susceptible to their own arrows.

“That looks like it could be our guy.” Merlin said, once they had all read it.

“But what’s a White-Lighter? And does this mean Gwen is one. I don’t really fancy taking on two demons and I’m certainly not having one in the house. It would probably be better to let them fight it out amongst themselves.” Morgana said.

“It implied White-Lighters are good.” Freya pointed out.

“Well if Dark-Lighters are in the book, White-Lighters should be too.” Merlin said as he started to flick through pages again. Merlin found the White-Lighters page quickly enough.

 

**_White-Lighters_ **

**_Entrusted with protecting good witches and future White-Lighters._ **

**_These guardian angels guide their charges in the use of their magic. Mortals in Life, they are given the choice to become a White-Lighter or move on to the afterlife upon their death._ **

**_Among their many powers White-Lighters can teleport through a process known as orbing and they possess a healing touch._ **

**_White-Lighters can usually be summoned by calling their name._ **

The book went on to describe a group called The Elders whom the White-Lighters worked for, who were a council of experienced and powerful White-Lighters that serve the greater good. The book also said that a White-Lighters weakness was the poison on a Dark-Lighters arrow. For which only another White-Lighter could cure as they couldn’t rid themselves of the poison.

“Well according to this.” Merlin mused. “Gwen could either be a witch or a future White-Lighter.”

“Or she could be a mortal that got mixed up with the wrong guy.” Freya said.

“This says White-Lighters are mortal in life, so she could be both mortal and a future White-Lighter.”

“Oh I hope she is a witch.” Morgana beamed, “It would be nice to meet another witch like us. We might actually gain a friend.”

“We can have friends!” Merlin objected, “We just have to be more careful that’s all.”

“And make sure not to tell them anything,” Freya added.

“Yes but it would be so much more fun if she was a witch.”

Merlin was still fixed onto the book, there was something about that first passage that made bells ring in his head, he just wasn’t sure why. At first.

“I wonder why we don’t have a White-Lighter?” Morgana asked, just as Merlin was re-reading the part about orbing.

“We do!”

“No we don’t.”

“Fairly sure we would know,” Both Morgana and Freya said together again.

“Yes we do. Those bright white lights I keep seeing. That’s our White-Lighter, that’s the White-Lighter orbing.”

“Well then he is a shit White-Lighter.” Morgana exclaimed.

“Morgana!”

“Well he is or she. It says here they are supposed to guide and protect us teach us about magic. How are they doing that if they won’t even face us?”

“I don’t Morgana,” Merlin said shaking his head. “They must have a reason.” Though he couldn’t think of one.

“Maybe we could make a complaint to these Elders.” Morgana said as she started to flick through the book again at great speed. This was an advancement on Morgana’s powers, as well as sometimes seeing the past Morgana could now speed read. Even though she was thrilled to have an active power, she was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t something more useful.

“I’m sorry Merlin.” Freya said.

“What for?” Merlin said confused, it wasn’t her fault.

“For not believing you about the white lights.” Freya admitted.

“Yeah sorry Merlin.” Morgana added.

“It’s okay, I’m not sure I would have believed me either,” Merlin grinned.

“I don’t believe it, there is nothing about The Elders in here,” Morgana said slamming the book shut.

“Let’s just worry about this Dark-Lighter for now.” Freya soothed.

“Right well seeing how we don’t have energy balls or any Dark-Lighter arrows I think it would be best if we made the potion. We have made potions a few times now and they are always successful.” Merlin said.

“Baggsey making up the spare room,” Morgana rushed in. She never liked making up the potions.

“Merlin will make up the potion, he is the chef after all.” Freya smiled.

“Not quite what I had in mind when I trained to be a chef.” Merlin muttered, even though he did actually like making up the potions.

“We need to make sure she is not left alone here too.” Freya added. “She can go with you to the funeral tomorrow Merlin.”

“Arthur is coming with me.”

“Looks like he has already done that.” Morgana laughed, poking Merlin’s neck.

“Quit it.” Merlin said batting her hand away and attempting to pull his collar up whilst fighting down a blush at the same time. “Come on then, she will be here soon.”

 

Merlin went to answer the door when Arthur and Gwen arrived and left Freya to take over the potion. There hadn’t been time for him to finish it. He was quickly joined by Morgana who seemed very eager to meet Gwen.

“Arthur.” Merlin smiled.

“Merlin, Morgana this is Guinevere.” Arthur introduced once they entered the hallway.

“Please call me Gwen.” Gwen said as she held out her hand.

“Are you a witch?”

“Morgana!” Merlin shouted.

“Er…Well I hope not.” Gwen stammered out.

“No I don’t mean witch as in bitchy I mean witch as in Wicca.” Morgana explained.

“Morgana!” Merlin repeated, glaring at Morgana.

“What? It can’t hurt to ask.”

“That’s not what you ask someone you don’t know, traditionally hello is used first.” Merlin scowled.

“Hello Gwen.”

Gwen laughed, “Hello Morgana and no not a witch, bitchy or otherwise.”

“That’s a shame, but still it’s good to meet new people. This stick in the mud here-“

“Hey!”

“Is my brother Merlin, our sister Freya is upstairs somewhere I’m sure she will appear at some point.” Morgana continued as if Merlin hadn’t spoken.

“It’s nice to meet you Merlin.” Gwen beamed. “Thanks again to you all for helping me.”

“Oh it’s no problem, we like to help where we can. Come on let’s leave the two love birds too it and I will show you too your room.” Morgana said already tugging on Gwen’s hand.

“I will make myself useful while I am here, I will fix the door bell and get rid of that bees nest.” Arthur said. “So I will probably be around the front door if anyone wants me.”

“Later Arthur.” Morgana shouted as they disappeared up the stairs.

“Someone’s eager.” Arthur laughed.

“Hmmm I get the feeling those two will get on brilliantly.” Merlin agreed, automatically moving closer to Arthur.

“I will go and get dinner started.” Merlin leaned in really close so that he could Arthur’s solid chest against his and kissed him on the cheek before whispering in his ear. “And for the record I always want you Arthur.” Merlin nipped on Arthur’s ear and pulled back grinning as he saw the longing long on face, payback was bliss.

 

“No sign of Helios yet that’s a good thing.” Arthur as they were getting ready for bed. Arthur had done the jobs he said he would do. Merlin had been right about Morgana and Gwen, they got on like a house on fire and Merlin suspected that they would remain friends long for a long time. Even if Gwen wasn’t a witch, which made her either completely mortal or a future White-Lighter, Merlin suspected the latter.

“Did you expect to see him so soon?” Merlin asked as they got undressed.

“It’s hard to tell with him, he has always had the habit of popping up when you least expect him.”

“Well she seems to be settling in at any rate.” Merlin said getting into bed to wait for Arthur.

“Freya seems to be wary around her, but I have noticed she is like that with most people, even me at first. She took a while to get used to me, I’m still not sure she quiet likes me at times.” Arthur chuckled.

“Don’t worry she will come around to Gwen, she always does.” Merlin kneeling up on the bed to reach for Arthur. “Now enough about the girls. Time to make good on your promise to me.” Merlin as he hooked an arm around a nearly naked Arthur and pulled him down on top of him.

“Hmm…With pleasure.” Arthur muttered already trailing hungry kisses down Merlin’s neck and licking his collar bone.

 

The next morning Merlin was pleasantly sore in all the right places and was extremely grateful he had booked the next few days off. This meant lazy mornings in bed with Arthur, whose chest he was currently using as a pillow.

Merlin trailed his fingers gently over Arthur’s chest making patterns in the smattering of fair chest hair. He moved his hand lower to trace around the faint six pack he could see. Merlin smiled at the sound of Arthur’s heartbeat in his ear, he had only frozen Arthur once last night, something he did a lot when they first started having sex.

He had almost said those three big words last night, he had wanted too but he still couldn’t bring himself to say them, there was still something holding him back.

Merlin knew Arthur was hiding something but then so was he. As he lay there thinking Merlin suspected he couldn’t say the words until he had told Arthur the truth about his magic. Trouble was he had no idea how Arthur was going to react, did Arthur even believe in magic? Merlin didn’t until he got his powers, so it would make sense that Arthur didn’t either. He had no idea if Arthur would be able to handle it. He was going to have to tell him at some point, he couldn’t keep it a secret forever.

“I can hear you thinking from here.” Arthur mumbled sleepily. Slowly stroking his hand down Merlin’s naked spine, leaving a trail of goose bumps. He couldn’t keep it a secret forever but it could wait a little while longer, Merlin thought as he rolled on top of Arthur.

 

The second time they woke up it was almost lunch time. And Merlin really needed a shower before getting ready for his dads funeral. Thankfully he had already prepared his suit the night before.

Showered and shaved Merlin was still in a towel about to get dressed when Arthur came into his bedroom his face racked with guilt. Merlin knew what he was going to say before he said it.

“I’m really sorry Merlin.” Arthur said regretfully.

“You have to go.” Merlin said for him, trying not to let his disappointment show through. Watching Arthur’s face fall Merlin assumed he failed.

“An elderly ladies pipes have burst and is flooding her kitchen.”

Merlin nodded, of course they did. He didn’t blame the lady, he didn’t even blame Arthur for wanting to help her, if it wasn’t his dad’s funeral he would probably go and help himself. But he had to admit the timing was horrendous. Whenever he got some quality time with Arthur something always got in the way.

“Go, you can’t leave that little old lady to fend for herself.” Merlin sighed.

“I promise I will make it up you Merlin. I will take you out for dinner or maybe a movie?” Arthur said hopefully.

“You Arthur Pendragon will be doing both,” Merlin said with a small smile to show he wasn’t mad just a bit disappointed.

“Gwen said she will go with you, Morgana is helping her get ready and lending her some clothes. I know it’s not the same but at least you won’t be alone.”

“No it’s not the same,” Merlin agreed, “But I didn’t spend a lot of time with Gwen last night so it will be good to spend some time with her and get to know her a bit.”

“You Merlin…I don’t deserve you sometimes.” Arthur softly, wrapping his arms around Merlin’s waist and leaning in for a quick kiss.

“No you really don’t,” Merlin laughed, “Now go rescue the damsel in distress.” Giving him a gentle shove to the chest.

Arthur snatched another quick kiss before quickly heading for the door and leaving the room. Merlin sighed and sat down heavily on the edge of his bed. He was more disappointed than he let on, he wasn’t sure what he expected today but he really wanted Arthur there with him. Something always got in the way though, if it wasn’t Arthur dashing off with a work emergency then it was him dashing off to deal with a demon. Merlin ran his hand through his hair, perhaps they just weren’t meant to be.

Merlin eventually got dressed, making sure to tuck the Dark-Lighter potion in his inside pocket and then went downstairs to wait for Gwen and Morgana, Freya had left for work hours ago.

Luckily the funeral itself was only twenty minutes away. That was another slap in the face, to find out that their father had lived so close but not once bother to get in contact. They could have passed him on the street or at the shops for all they knew as none of them knew what he looked like, only Freya had some real memories of him. Merlin had images but he didn’t know if they were real or part of a dream. Merlin never really wanted to know why he left, they were happy without him and to Merlin it didn’t make sense to upset that peace. Now however, now he really wanted to know. He hopes that his wife may have some answers for him, not that he was going to press her about it at her husband’s funeral but he was hoping that it would at least open the door for some future communication and maybe some answers.

Merlin was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t even hear Morgana and Gwen come down the stairs and in the room. It wasn’t until Morgana put her hand on his shoulder that he noticed they were there at all.

“Are you alright Merlin?” Morgana asked.

“Yeah” Merlin replied quietly.

“Sorry about Arthur.”

“At least he passed the demon test.” Merlin whispered when he noticed Gwen near the door.

Morgana’s only reply was a weak smile in his direction. “Are you ready to go?” Merlin asked Gwen who was looking very smart in Morgana’s clothes.

“Ready when you are.” She replied.

Gwen picked up her purse while Merlin got his jacket but they barely made it to the front doors when Morgana ran after them. “Everybody down!”

It was too late the front doors flew open with an almighty crash, smashing one of glass panes. A big gust of wind quickly followed sending them flying into the nearest wall. Merlin heard the girls scream as they were also flying down the hallway, only to be cut off when they landed.

“Where is she? I know she is here.” Merlin looked up from the floor to see a blurry tall dark skinned man with a large tattoo of a crossbow on his neck, Helios Merlin assumed.

Helios began to stroll into the house as if he had all the time in the world, he didn’t Merlin thought as his vision began to clear. “Don’t think you can get away from me again Guinevere.”

Once Merlin had a clear line of sight he froze the demon, but the demon didn’t freeze, not completely. It was as if the demon was moving in slow motion and was gradually getting faster. That had never happened before! The demons always froze. Merlin tried again as he got up off the floor but with no effect.

“Witches!” Helios snarled gaining control of his mouth.

Merlin moved forward to put himself in between the demon and the girls whilst still trying to freeze him but it wasn’t working.

“Freeze him Merlin!” Morgana shouted.

“I’m trying, it’s not working.” Merlin shouted back starting to panic.

“The potion then!”

Merlin fumbled in his jacket for the potion but he wasn’t fast enough. The demon had pushed through his freeze spell completely now and threw Merlin against the opposite wall. Merlin hit the wall and felt the air rush out of his lungs as he fell down and crashed onto a small table that contained a vase and some flowers which promptly shattered under Merlin’s weight, cutting Merlin’s hands and face in the process.

Helios thinking that Merlin had been taken care off started to advance on the girls, “Guinevere will come with me even if I have to kill every human or witch that’s stands in my way. We belong together.” He holding his hand up that was now glowing a bright red. The girls were trying to move away but they were up against the wall there was nowhere for them to go

Merlin continued to fumble in his jacket pocket for the potion ignoring the cuts on his hand, he could feel the water from the vase already soaking through his clothes. Once his fingers found the tiny bottle he yanked it out of his pocket and threw it at Helios’s back.

Helios screamed as the potion burned through his own clothes, Merlin could immediately see a large red burn appearing on his bubbling skin. But it wasn’t enough, not enough to vanquish him at any rate.

“Morgana your potion.” Merlin yelled.

“I don’t have it!” Morgana screamed.

Helios turned his attention back to Merlin and came at him quickly with his glowing hand outstretched, Merlin kept trying to freeze him even though it was working, he didn’t know what else to do. Merlin could feel the heat coming from Helios’s hand on his face when gunfire suddenly rang out throughout the hallway.

Merlin snapped his head round to find Will and another man standing in the doorway both aiming and shooting at Helios. Helios only winced as the bullets went through him. But it was enough to distract him from Merlin. Helios, clearly outnumbered started to run back towards the front doors, what was left of them. “This is not over! I will be back and I will find her.” Helios shouted, pushing past both policemen with ease. Both Will and the other man continued to shoot but didn’t chase him.

‘I will find her?’ Merlin frowned repeating the words in his head. Gwen was right there, how could he not see her?

Morgana got to Merlin first, “Are you alright Merlin?” she asked her hands hovering all over him but not actually touching him, through fear of hurting him further.

“I’m fine.” He replied as he struggled to sit up.

“You don’t look fine Merlin mate.” Will said as he approached.

“I’m fine really, just some cuts and bruises,” he said, “And a little bit wet.” He added lightly.

“We should get you checked out Merlin,” The handsome, tall, dark haired and dark eyed man with Will said.

“Honestly it’s fine.” Merlin insisted, standing up with Will’s help.

“You still need looking at,” Gwen said.

“I will go and get the first aid kit.” Morgana said, disappearing into the kitchen.

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Will demanded once he was certain Merlin could stand on his own.

“That was Gwen’s ex-boyfriend who has some issues with being the ex.” Merlin said indicating to Gwen. Merlin decided to go with a half-truth, he wasn’t sure how much Will and the other man saw. “Who is this Will?” Merlin asked, as Morgana returned armed with first aid, Indicating the tall man next to Will.

“Oh sorry, this is my partner Lancelot. Lancelot this is Merlin, Morgana and Gwen was it?” Will indicated to each in turn. Gwen nodded. “Is Freya in work?” Will asked.

“Yeah thank god.” Merlin replied, grateful that she was out of danger even though they really could have done with her active power.

“Here Merlin come and sit down so we can check you over properly.” Gwen said, leading him over to the couch in the front room. “Take off your jacket.”

“I’m fine really, it’s just some little cuts on my hands and face.” But Merlin was overruled as Morgana started to man handle him out of his jacket. Merlin noticed that his jacket now had several small rips in it. So much for his dad’s funeral, Merlin thought as he sighed at the damage.

“Little! Merlin you have at least one nasty cut above your eye.” Will exclaimed.

“I don’t understand it we hit him, I’m sure we hit him but he didn’t flinch” Lancelot said baffled. “How did he walk away from that?”

“He should be in a pool on the floor.” Will agreed.

“He was probably wearing his bullet proof vest,” Gwen said in a stroke of pure genius “He is a member of a gang and always wears one. I didn’t know he was part of a gang when I started to date him, I left him when I found out what a nasty piece of work he really was.”

That was brilliant! Merlin didn’t think he would be able to come up with anything better even if he had time to think about. Gwen was so convincing that both Will and Lancelot swallowed it whole.

“If you can give us his full name, we can put out an arrest warrant for him.” Lancelot said to Gwen. Gwen looked between Merlin and Morgana as if asking permission. Merlin nodded, Helios was a demon, it’s not as if they were going to find him.

“Helios Merrick.” Gwen answered.

“What are you guys doing here anyway?” Merlin asked, noticing that Lancelot’s attention was fixed firmly on Gwen.

“We were just passing, just starting our shift when we heard screaming. We came to investigate.” Will explained. Merlin was grateful they did, they had scared Helios off when he saw he was outnumbered. It was a good thing that demons wanted to remain secret too otherwise Helios would have no trouble with Will and Lance.

He was certain if they hadn’t he would be a goner, nothing they did worked, this was something they needed to discuss along with Gwen’s lack of surprise of a demon or their powers. But first they needed to get rid of Will and Lancelot.

Merlin hissed when Morgana dabbed his eye with some cotton wool that had some kind of disinfectant on it. “Oh don’t be such a baby.” Merlin ignored her.

“Thanks for your help guys but I think we will be alright now.” Merlin said addressing Will and Lancelot.

“Are you sure? He might come back?” Lancelot said clearly not wanting to leave, still looking at Gwen.

“Is there anyone else in the house?” Will asked suddenly.

“No, why?” Morgana replied.

“I’m certain I just heard footsteps on the landing.” Will explained. “We will just do a quick check through the house first.” Will said tugging on Lancelot’s sleeve who clearly didn’t want to leave.

Merlin froze the room before they got close to the exit. Everyone apart from Morgana froze in mid-step. Merlin was relieved to find that his powers did work, just not on that demon.

“Merlin! What are you doing?” Morgana hissed.

“Cut Lancelot’s hand.” Merlin ordered.

“What? Why?”

“Demon test, quickly we can blame it on the glass from the vase or the door window.” Merlin rushed.

“Don’t you think you are being a bit paranoid?” Morgana said, but still moved to do as Merlin asked.

“Better safe than sorry, he has eyes for Gwen we don’t want her getting mixed up with another demon, if she is a future Whiter-Lighter she may be attracting them without knowing it.” Merlin explained.

“Wow Merlin that actually makes a lot of sense.” Morgana agreed, and cut a fingertip on Lancelot’s hand, with a stray piece of glass she found on the floor, then moved to sit back down next to Merlin and Merlin unfroze the room.

Lancelot instantly hissed and shook his hand, “Lance?” Will asked.

“It’s nothing I must have cut my finger on some of the glass and not noticed.” Lancelot said holding up a bleeding finger. Merlin released a sigh of relief, the last thing they needed at the moment was another demon in the mix.

“Oh right, come on we will check upstairs first I’m sure I heard movement on the landing.” Will said as they disappeared out of the room.

“I’m really sorry Merlin” Gwen said quickly looking very distraught, she may not have been surprised at the demon but she was still clearly shaken up by it. “This is all my fault.”

“This is not your fault.” Merlin said firmly.

“No. This is Helios’s fault,” Morgana agreed.

“He wouldn’t have been here at all if it wasn’t for me, and now your hurt and you’re missing your father’s funeral.” Gwen said sorrowfully.

“Honestly Gwen its fine, I’m fine.” Merlin soothed.

“No its not I’m making you miss your father’s funeral.” Gwen said holding back tears.

“It’s fine Gwen none one of us have seen or spoken to him in nearly twenty years, I was going out of respect more than anything else.”

“But it’s still not right Merlin.” Gwen insisted.

“It’s not right that Helios is hunting you the way he is either. You are our innocent and we are here to protect you.” Merlin smiled, “Look it’s just a cheap broken vase a few scrapes really, nothing that won’t heal over in a few days, I’ve definitely had worse. That’s all.” And a demon who was immune to their powers but he left that bit out.

Will and Lancelot came back into the room, “All clear.” Will announced. “Are you sure you don’t want us to stay?”

Merlin shook his head, “We are fine now, thank you for help.”

“Do you mind if I come by later and check in on you? Make sure you are alright.” Lancelot asked Gwen.

“No I don’t mind at all.” Gwen blushed. Merlin raised an eyebrow looking at Morgana who noticed the exchange this time.

“We will be checking in on you all anyway.” Will stated, looking pointedly at Merlin and Morgana as if to remind Lancelot of their presence too. “If Helios is as bad as you say he is not going to give up easily. And we will put a warrant out for his arrest, we may get lucky and find him before he finds you.”

“That’s fine.” Merlin said, doubting that they would find him at all. “And thanks again for your help guys.”

“You know where I live if you need me.” Will said, “I will leave you too it, get some rest all you, you have had a nasty scare.”

“We will.” Morgana agreed.

“We will be back to check on you later.” Lancelot confirmed as Will pulled him from the room.

They waited until they heard Lance and Will finish struggling with the doors, thankfully it appeared only the glass was broken not the door hinges. That’s one less job for Arthur, it was lucky they had a handy man to fix it for them.

“What happened with your powers Merlin?” Morgana asked once they knew they were in the all clear.

“I don’t know, that’s never happened before.” Merlin said as Morgana put a bandage above his eye.

“He must be more powerful than the others we have come across.”

“The vanquishing potion didn’t work either, it hurt him but didn’t vanquish him. Maybe it needs to be stronger.”

“Then we will make a stronger one.” Morgana said firmly.

“I will triple the ingredients.” Merlin agreed. “Maybe if we weaken him first he will freeze, and I will make enough potion so that we all have one and you must both keep it on you at all times, and I think we should all stick together.”

“Yes dad,” Morgana mocked.

“Gwen why couldn’t he see you?” Merlin asked addressing Gwen who had gone quiet.

“What do you mean?” Gwen replied sheepishly. Merlin’s eyes narrowed, she knew something.

“Helios said ‘I will find her’ but you were right there, why couldn’t he find you?”

“I..I don’t know.” Gwen said hesitantly, she was lying.

“Are you sure?” Merlin persisted.

“I have no idea why he couldn’t see me.” Gwen said without looking either one of them in the eye. She was definitely lying, Merlin just didn’t understand why.

“Gwen.” He said softly, resting his hand on her arm, “If you know anything, it might help.”

“I’m sorry Merlin but I don’t know anything.” Gwen repeated looking down at the floor.

“You knew that Helios was a demon, you didn’t look too surprised at his abilities, or ours.”

Gwen nodded, “I knew Helios was a demon.” Gwen paused before taking a deep breath and continuing. “I’m a teacher. And there are a lot of troubled kids in our school, I try my best to get through to them and put them back on track to prevent them from turning to a life of crime. There was this one kid who was having a hard time at home and I was doing my best to help him. It was working, I was getting through I know it!” Gwen swallowed, “I told him where I lived and said if he ever needed any help then to come find me. And he did, except I was shopping at the time so Helios let him in. Helios must have thought he was a threat of some kind, I…I walked in on Helios killing James, his hand was glowing red and he had practically burnt James’s face off with his bare hands…So I ran. And I have been running ever since.”

“I know what you are thinking, Gwen and the answer is no.” Morgana said gently while Gwen still was trying to compose herself.

“What?” Merlin asked.

“She is thinking about going to Helios in order to save everyone else.” Morgana said, Gwen didn’t deny it.

“I have too, I can’t let him hurt anyone else because of me.” Gwen pleaded.

“Do you know why this demon wants you?” Merlin asked. Gwen shook her head.

“Helios is a Dark-Lighter and Dark-Lighters want to kill good witches and future White-Lighters and since you are not a witch it means you are a future White-Lighter. White-Lighters are guardian angels that guide and protect the innocent, if you went to Helios that wouldn’t happen think of all the future lives that would be at risk if you didn’t become a White-Lighter.” Merlin explained hoping she would see the bigger picture.

“You really think I’m a future White-Lighter?” Gwen asked, hope igniting in her eyes.

“You sure you’re not a witch?” Morgana asked.

Gwen laughed, “I’m sure.”

“Then that makes you a future White-Lighter, and going off what I know about you already you are going to be fantastic.” Morgana smiled, getting a small smile in response.

“Will is right about one thing.” Merlin said.

“What’s that?” Gwen asked.

“That we need some rest, you do certainly. Helios could attack again soon we need to be ready not dead on our feet.” Gwen nodded.

“Are you sure you are alright?” Gwen asked looking at Merlin’s eye.

“Its fine, it looks worse than it is.” Merlin said.

“Okay,” Gwen agreed getting up.

“Oh and Gwen,” Merlin called before she left the room.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t forget I have the power to freeze, if I catch you trying to sneak out I will freeze and leave you that way all day if I have too.” Merlin warned, “Just thought you should know in case you have any more thoughts about going to Helios.”

“I won’t,” Gwen smiled warily, and left to rest for an hour.

“You should get some rest too Merlin.” Morgana said.

“I will, right after I make a stronger potion. And clean up all that glass.” Merlin agreed.

“How are you really?”

“I’m fine. I’m a little sore and I suspect I will be even sorer tomorrow but I’m okay.” Merlin admitted to Morgana. He hadn’t wanted to let on how sore he was when Gwen was there she was already feeling guilty enough. But he could admit to himself that his ribs where killing him and his head was throbbing.

“You were lucky really, if that cut was any deeper you would need stitches.” Morgana said looking worried.

“Gana I’m fine honest.” He insisted, using her old nickname.

“Okay if you are sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“You get started on that potion and then get some rest. I need to start getting ready for my concert date with Morgause tonight.” Morgana ordered.

“What?! But that is hours away!” Merlin exclaimed.

“She is picking me up at seven that only leaves me with about four hours.”

“Four hours! To get ready!”

“Beauty takes time and work Merlin.” Morgana said simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“But you are already perfect Morgana,” Merlin grinned, he knew it was cheesy but he couldn’t resist it.

“Oooh sounds like someone got laid last night.” Morgana teased.

Merlin blushed but nodded, “And again this morning.” He replied smugly, blush still firmly in place, making Morgana laugh.

 

***

 

Meanwhile Arthur was led on a wild goose chase.

When he got to where his charge was supposed to be, there was no one there, at first Arthur thought he was too late. But he would have felt it if his charge had died. After few minutes looking around the old abandoned building where he felt his charge was supposed to be, Arthur decided his charge wasn’t there, and probably wasn’t there to begin with.

He focused on his senses and looked for his charge, who it turns out was at home perfectly fine. This had to mean someone had managed to trick his senses, something that was very hard to do.

He went and checked on his charge anyway his case his senses were being tricked twice. He watched silently as his charge was having a discussion with someone else on the phone, nothing appeared to be out of order at all.

This charge, Gilli, was still new in coming into his powers and was slowly learning how to use them along with a couple of magical artefacts. Arthur was charged to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t stray to the dark path. He wasn’t allowed to reveal himself to Gilli either, The Elders didn’t think he was ready, and in this case Arthur agreed with them, so Arthur remained in the shadows and watched him from a window.

That was until he felt Merlin’s panic. Arthur was used to feeling Merlin’s panic, he would panic each time they fought a demon, but it would only last for a moment that was usually associated with an adrenalin rush. But this was different, it was much more extreme and it wasn’t going away, then he felt Morgana’s and Gwen’s panic too and realised something was defiantly wrong.

Arthur orbed in directly upstairs to where he last saw Merlin, he didn’t even stop to look around, just orbed directly to Merlin’s bedroom. Merlin wasn’t there.

Arthur heard a loud crash and smash coming from downstairs, he ran out onto the landing and looked over the banister into the hallway in time to see Helios scream and his clothing steaming.

Helios, he should have known. It was probably Helios that tricked his senses in order to get him out of the house leaving the way clear for him to attack.

Arthur was on tenterhooks throughout the rest of the fight and more than once he actually started down the stairs eager to help, only to retreat a moment later.

He breathed a sigh of relief once it was over, only to start worrying again when he realised Merlin was injured. He desperately wanted just go and heal him. Despite Merlin’s assurances he was fine, Merlin looked a mess with his hands and face covered in blood. Arthur knew it probably looked far worse than it actually was but it didn’t stop him itching to go and heal him.

He lost track of the conversation once they moved into the other room and Arthur was forced to wait as he couldn’t risk getting close enough to listen. Arthur took to twisting the ring on his thumb round and round, something he hadn’t really done in a long time.

When Arthur couldn’t take it any longer he decided to creep forward, he needed to know what was going on and how Merlin really was, only to step creaky floor board and alert them to his presence.

Arthur heard either Will or Lancelot, he wasn’t sure which, talking about checking the house. He needed to be out of the way completely but not wanting to go far Arthur orbed on to the roof. At least this way he would be able to see when Will and Lancelot left and nobody would find him here.

He waited there for what felt like hours until he finally saw Will and Lancelot leave down the garden path. He then orbed himself back on to the landing making sure to avoid the creaky floor board. Arthur managed to get in close enough to catch the end of Gwen’s story, most of which he knew already having spoken to Gwen properly the night before.

Gwen made her way up the stairs a few moments later, so Arthur was able to speak to her. “Guinevere!” Arthur hissed, catching her attention. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Gwen assured, “And Merlin is fine.” She added, anticipating Arthur’s next question. “He has a nasty cut above his eye and I suspect he is a little bruised by the way he was moving, nothing that won’t heal in a few days.”

Arthur felt the tight knot around his chest finally loosen. “What happened?”

“Well Helios attacked.”

Arthur gave a small smile, “I know that bit,” he chuckled, “I mean during the fight, I have seen them take down a few demons and none of them went as badly as this one did.”

“Merlin’s powers didn’t work, he tried to freeze Helios but he didn’t freeze, he sort of pushed his way through it.”

“That’s never happened before,” Arthur said worry clear in his voice. “Helios must be stronger than I thought. Then he has to be strong in order to fool my senses the way he did.”

“That’s what they said,” Gwen nodded. “They are going to increase the strength of their potion and try to stick together for the next time he attacks.”

“They are stronger together,” Arthur agreed, “They are not The Charmed Ones for nothing, and their powers are still growing, nowhere near full strength yet, especially Merlin.”

“If Will and Lancelot hadn’t arrived when they did I don’t know what would have happened.”

“I heard the gunfire, what did you tell them?” Arthur asked. Knowing they would have been confused that their bullets didn’t affect the demon.

“That Helios was probably wearing a bullet proof vest and that he is part of a gang. They are going to try and find him they aren’t in danger too are they?” Gwen rushed.

“No. He is a demon, it’s unlikely that they will find any record of him but thanks to your gang idea they will just think that he has connections, which was quick thinking on your part.” Arthur complimented.

“Thanks.” Gwen blushed, chewing her lip. “Arthur,” she hesitated, “Merlin and Morgana know that Helios couldn’t see me.” Gwen admitted. “I played dumb, but I don’t think they believed me.”

“Do they suspect me?” Arthur asked with a slight panic. He was going to tell them but he didn’t want them to find out on their own he wanted to be the one to tell them. He needed to explain himself properly.

“No your name wasn’t mentioned.”

“I’m sorry Guinevere, I don’t like making you lie to them, and I know you have grown close to them particularly Morgana, but I promise I will tell them soon.”

“I hope so Arthur, I really didn’t like it. It felt like I was betraying them.”

“Again I’m sorry but thank you for doing this.” Gwen nodded, “Go and get some rest Guinevere, your still shaking.” Arthur encouraged.

Now all Arthur had to do was to come back through the front door and pretend to be surprised by what had happened.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sooooooo sorry that this took so long, not only did I get distracted writing a different fic but I also found this chapter quite difficult so I apologise if it is a bit weak in places.  
> Hopefully the next chapter wont be as long.

When Will and Lancelot had gone and Gwen went off to get some rest Merlin called Freya and convinced her to come home. They didn’t know how much Helios knew about them, he clearly knew where they lived and Merlin didn’t want him finding Freya while she was on her own, especially if he was immune to their powers. Together they would be stronger, at least Merlin hoped they would be.

Merlin then started making more Dark-Lighter potion, tripling each of the ingredients. The potion was required to stew for a while so Merlin left it to stew three times longer. He went to start the clean-up whilst it was stewing, moving very slowly, he didn’t want to admit it but his ribs were very sore.

Arthur surprised him again by turning up much earlier than expected, saying he had managed to get someone to cover for him with the little old lady, for which Merlin was very grateful. It was too late to go to his father’s funeral, but he felt better with Arthur there.

Arthur fussed over Merlin like a mother hen, not that he ever say that out loud in Arthur’s presence, he liked having sex. Arthur had insisted on checking Merlin thoroughly which meant stripping him off and letting Arthur prod gingerly at his ribs. After Arthur had been satisfied that Merlin was okay he started to blame himself just like Gwen blamed herself. Merlin reassured him that it was not his fault though it took some doing.

Telling Arthur about what happened with Helios wasn’t too hard, he didn’t even have to lie, much. Helios attacked, threw Merlin into a table and vase and was then chased off by two policemen. All of which was the truth, just minus some important details.

Once he calmed Arthur down, Arthur took over the cleaning not letting Merlin lift a finger, claiming he didn’t want Merlin to overdo it while he was injured, even if it was only a few cuts and bruises.

Freya had arrived during the clean-up and Merlin had to go through the whole process again, minus the stripping. Honestly it was just a few cuts and bruises you would think he was on his death bed the way everyone was fussing over him.

Merlin finished the Dark-Lighter potion when Arthur went to get some glass for the front door, which was a good thing seeing how it blew up in his face. That would have definitely had Arthur running for the attic. But at the same time Merlin felt confident that this potion would have a better effect on Helios, if it blew up in his face then surly it would blow up Helios. He filled four potion bottles, one for each Morgana, Freya and Gwen as well as one for himself. Merlin wished he could give one to Arthur but he didn’t see how he could without raising questions.

Merlin also took the opportunity to talk to all the girls while Arthur was out. “I want to tell Arthur about my magic.” Merlin started getting straight to the point, when he had finished corking up the bottles.

“What?!”

“Merlin why?”

Freya and Morgana said simultaneously while Gwen made herself comfortable on an old soft bed they had stored in the attic.

“Why do you think? I don’t like lying to him, I don’t like keeping something this big from him.”

“But Merlin you can’t just tell him about you, you would be telling him about all of us and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that.” Morgana said.

“Plus we don’t know if we can trust him yet.” Freya added.

“I trust him.” Merlin replied instantly.

“But he is hiding something, we all know it and we have no idea what that is.” Freya replied.

“And what if he reacts badly?” Morgana asked.

“Look I have to tell him at some point,” Merlin replied firmly before softening his voice a little, “If I want a future with Arthur and I do want a future with Arthur I have to tell him, I can’t hide it forever and as to whatever he is hiding he has promised to tell me soon.”

“All I’m saying is that it would be best to wait and see what his secret is first.” Freya said.

“We are both hiding something from each other, both waiting to see what the other is hiding. One of us has to come clean first, why not me?”

“Why not him?” Freya snapped.

“Merlin,” Morgana said gently, “Have you also considered that the more Arthur knows the more danger he is in?”

“He is in danger because I haven’t told him too. This potion for example,” Merlin said lifting up the bottles, “I can’t give him a bottle because it would raise far too many questions, if Helios attacks now Arthur will be vulnerable and defenceless. Not to mention just being around us puts him in a certain amount of danger. Anyone we date will always be at risk, we can get attacked at any time by a demon and I refuse to live my life single and alone.” Merlin ranted. “At the moment he is unaware of the danger, it’s only fair to tell him the risks and let him decide if he wants to take them.”

Morgana looked pensive as she took in Merlin’s words, “Hmmm maybe, I got to admit it would be nice not to have to hide who we are in our own house when Arthur is around.” Merlin smiled at Morgana, she was always the most open about their magic.

“No. I don’t like it, not until we find out what Arthur is hiding first.” Freya snapped.

Merlin had to admit he was a little hurt by Freya’s reaction, “I want my relationship with Arthur to work and that’s not going to happen while I am keeping secrets from him.”

“He is keeping secrets too.” Freya insisted.

“I don’t understand,” Merlin said trying to keep the hurt out of his voice, “I was nothing but supportive of you when you wanted to tell Will.”

“That was different!”

“Different how?”

“We knew Will wasn’t hiding anything, we know for a fact Arthur is.” Freya retorted. “I’m sorry Merlin,” Freya continued but with a much softer tone, “I am not comfortable with Arthur knowing about us until we know what he is hiding. I can’t support you with something I don’t agree with.”

Merlin sighed, he really wanted to have both of their support before telling Arthur. It would cause a rift amongst them if he went against Freya, but his gut was telling him to be honest with Arthur, he hated lying to him.

“What do you think Gwen you are neutral in this?” Morgana asked, surprising Gwen.

“Oh no, I don’t want to get involved, this is a family matter.” Gwen blushed.

“But that’s why you are ideal,” Merlin said, “You’re not too close to the problem you have an outside opinion and it might help us.”

“Well,” Gwen said chewing her lip thoughtfully, “I can’t tell you if you should tell Arthur or not but I can say that relationships based on lies and deceit never work, look at me and Helios.”

“Exactly,” Freya rushed, “He was hiding something, hiding the fact that he was a demon, and now we are all in danger.” Freya said causing a look of guilt to flash over Gwen’s face.

“What I meant was the relationship was a lie, it was all false and doomed to fail.” Gwen explained.

“And we know that Arthur is not a demon, I did the demon test remember?” Merlin said.

Freya sighed, “I don’t like it Merlin, he may not be a demon but he is still hiding something, I would much rather we wait until Arthur tells you what that is first.”

Merlin knew that what Freya was saying did make some sort of sense, he was just really tired of all the lies.

“How about?” Morgana said, trying to be the voice of reason for a change, “We wait, just a little bit. I mean Arthur said he was going to tell you his secret soon, didn’t he?”

Merlin nodded, but he didn’t know how soon soon was.

“How about we wait until this Helios business is over and we will discuss it again then if Arthur hasn’t told you. At the moment we are all on edge we will be able to make a better decision when we are all calm and can think more clearly.”

Merlin nodded, “Fine.” He said quietly, “Here are your potions,” Merlin said, handing them all a bottle each. “Keep them on you at all times. I am going to see if Arthur is back yet.” He announced, leaving the room before anyone could object.

Merlin guessed that someone was about to follow him when he heard Morgana’s voice say ‘leave him for a while’. Merlin knew that what they said was right but that doesn’t mean he has to like it, and he was a little stung over Freya’s reaction. Did she not like Arthur? Arthur did say something about Freya not liking him last night but Merlin didn’t pay it any attention because he thought it was silly, maybe he was right.

Merlin sighed to himself. Maybe he was over-reacting, maybe this was Freya just being her usual overprotective careful self. Freya had never shown any mistrust or dislike towards Arthur before, maybe he was overthinking this whole thing.

 

It was late by the time Arthur finished replacing the glass in the door as Merlin watched, Arthur still wouldn’t let Merlin help.

It was almost time for Morgana to be picked up by Morgause for their concert date. Morgana had spent the rest of the afternoon flitting from her bedroom to the bathroom and back again, with Gwen trailing behind every time.

Arthur had just closed the door, when the doorbell rang, both Merlin and Arthur frowned, there had been nobody there a second ago. Merlin was instantly on high alert and rushed over to the door and moved in front of Arthur before he had fully opened it, discretely feeling for his potion bottle in his pocket at the same time.

At the door was a slim blonde woman with sharp cheekbones and eyes as cold as ice surrounded in far too much eye-liner.

“I’m here for Morgana,” The woman said firmly.

“Morgause?” Merlin queried. Morgause give a stiff nod. “Hi I’m Merlin, Morgana’s brother.” Merlin said holding out his hand. Morgause looked Merlin over and Merlin was sure she was trying to hold back a sneer but when she glanced over to Arthur behind him the sneer became much more pronounced, making Merlin take an automatic step back bumping into Arthur, he stayed where he was allowing Arthur’s warmth soak into his back.

“Is she ready? I don’t want to be late.” Morgause said lifting her chin up and ignoring Merlin’s hand.

Merlin was starting to see why Freya didn’t like Morgause, not only was she extremely rude but the whole air around her reeked of wrongness. He could feel waves of coldness coming from her causing Merlin to shiver against Arthur. Morgause just felt wrong.

Morgana came bouncing down the stairs wearing tight ripped jeans and a tight tank top that revealed far too much cleavage. Knee high leather boots that had far too many buckles and studs on than was necessary. Leather bands around her wrists and a cord around her neck, Merlin assumed there was something on the cord but it was tucked into her cleavage so he couldn’t tell what it was. Her hair on the other hand was flawless flowing out behind her like a cloak, Morgana had also applied too much eyeliner, where they going to the Goth or Emo look? Merlin wasn’t sure. Expect for their hair colour Morgana was a mirror image of Morgause. And it was not Morgana at all.

“Morgana! You look…different.” Merlin exclaimed.

“She looks wonderful,” Morgause said, whose facial expression changed completely when Morgana appeared. Morgause looked at Morgana like she was the crown jewels.

“Of course,” Merlin rushed in after a receiving a glare from Morgause. “Morgana always looks good, this is just different that’s all.”

“Thanks Merlin,” Morgana replied confused, “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult.”

“No, no it’s a compliment.” Merlin replied quickly. Merlin felt Arthur snake an arm around his waist and immediately leaned back further and relaxed into him, he hadn’t realised how tense he was until that moment. Oddly enough Morgause raised her eyebrows and took great interest in their movements, which didn’t go unnoticed by Morgana.

“Ignore these two love birds, they can get quite disgusting and soppy-

“Hey!”

“Oi!”

“I said it was a compliment.” Merlin defended.

“And so was what I said,” Morgana smirked before moving over to Morgause.

“Can we go now?” Morgause said her eyes back on morgana.

“Sure,” Morgana grinned, taking Morgause’s hand and started to pull her down the path, “Don’t wait up!” She called back, getting into Morgause’s car.

The air instantly felt warmer as soon as Morgause had left the porch.

Freya and Gwen appeared behind Merlin and Arthur when Merlin closed the door. “Was that Morgause?”

Merlin nodded, as they turned around together, Arthur keeping his arm around Merlin. “You were right about her she is creepy.”

“I didn’t say that she was creepy, just that I had a bad feeling about her.”

“There was definitely a bad feeling all around her.” Merlin agreed.

“I just meant that I didn’t trust her. What do you mean?”

“She was just giving off really bad vibes that’s all.” Merlin explained looking over to Arthur, “You felt it too right? It was as if you could feel the wrongness coming off her.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes forming a crease between them, “I’m not sure what you are on about Merlin. I mean she was incredibly rude, but I didn’t feel anything coming from her.”

“Do you have a minute Merlin?” Freya asked, glancing at Arthur. “In the kitchen.”

Merlin sighed, “Sure,” Merlin squeezed Arthur’s hand as he removed it. “I will be just a minute.”

“It’s fine.” Arthur replied. “Me and Gwen will set the TV up, how about we have a movie night?”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Merlin grinned. “I will make some popcorn while I’m in there.”

Merlin went into the kitchen with Freya following close behind. Merlin started to go through the cupboards to find a pan and popcorn before putting the pan on the burner while he waited for Freya to speak.

“Merlin, I’m sorry about earlier. I’m not going back on anything I said but I admit I could have handled it better.” Freya said eventually.

“Do you not like Arthur?” Merlin asked. The idea that Freya didn’t like Arthur had been bugging him since their conversation earlier that afternoon.

“Of course I like Arthur.” Freya said moving closer to Merlin. “I just don’t like the idea that he is hiding something.”

“Arthur is a good man.” Merlin said.

“I know, I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all Merlin.” Freya said gently.

“I know Freya,” Merlin sighed, “But you can’t protect me from everything, sometimes we have to take risks.”

“I know that Merlin but if we can reduce the risks in any way we can then we should.”

“Alright Freya I will wait,” Merlin said as he checked on the popcorn, “But I’m not going to wait for long.”

“Okay Merlin,” Freya said chewing her lip thoughtfully, “Why don’t we try the truth spell again?”

“No. No way, not after last time.”

“Fair enough,” Freya said with a small smile. “So what was going on with Morgause earlier?”

“I don’t know, I just got some real bad vibes from her.”

“I have never liked her or trusted her but I wouldn’t say I felt bad vibes from her.” Freya said, raising her voice a little over the sound of the popcorn popping in the pan. “It might be that your powers are growing.”

“Growing into what?”

“I’m not sure, maybe detecting bad vibes means a demon?”

“Becoming a walking demon detector?” Merlin laughed, “Now that would be handy.”

“It would.”

“We would need to test it out properly on a known demon.” Merlin said. “It could just be Morgause.”

“Well we know Helios is a demon so we can test it out next time he attacks.”

Merlin nodded, “Good idea.” Merlin froze midway through shaking out the popcorn, “If you are right then that means Morgause is a demon.”

“And Morgana is out with her on her own without an active power.” Freya finished. “I will call her.” Freya said moving to the phone.

“I will just take this popcorn to Arthur and Gwen, I will be right back,” Merlin said while Freya had already got a connection.

Merlin rushed into the front room and shoved the popcorn into Arthur’s hands, “I will just get us some drinks I will be right back.” And rushed back out the room before anyone could really register he was there.

He rushed back into the kitchen to find Freya still on the phone.

“No Morgana…..That’s not it at all…..Morgana…..Morgana please listen to me.”

Freya huffed as she put the phone down, “She hung up on me.”

“I’m guessing she didn’t like it?” Merlin asked.

“No.” Freya shook her head, “She thinks I’m interfering because Morgause is my boss and I didn’t want her to go out with her in the first place. She won’t come home.”

“So what do we do?” Merlin said biting his lip. He hated the idea of Morgana out there with a demon and no backup.

“What can we do? She refuses to come home, it will be worse if we just turn up out the blue, not to mention we are not really sure where exactly she is.” Freya said.

“She is at the Imagine Dragons concert, that shouldn’t be hard to find.”

“Yes but finding her amongst thousands of other people will be difficult.”

“We could call and say there is a family emergency, she won’t like it when she finds out we lied but at least she will be home and safe.” Merlin tried.

“I can try it, but I suspect she won’t answer her phone.” Freya was right, Morgana could be so stubborn at times.

“So what we just sit here and wait?”

“Unless you can think of anything better?” Freya asked.

Merlin racked his brain to think of a way to contact Morgana and convince her to come home but he couldn’t. Maybe if he had rang her instead of Freya they might have stood a chance but Morgana has clearly assumed that Freya was trying to interfere with her date and was now on the defensive.

Merlin really didn’t like the idea of Morgana on her own with a demon and no active powers, but he couldn’t see any way to get through to Morgana, she did seem really taken with Morgause.

“Nothing that will make her listen. She does seem really taken with Morgause. Did you see what she was wearing?” Merlin said repeating his thoughts.

“Yes I saw her on the landing.” Freya nodded.

“She didn’t look like Morgana,” Merlin said. “It’s not like her to change herself so much just to impress someone.”

“If Morgause is a demon, could it be possible she is under some kind of spell?” Freya asked.

“Hmmm it is possible and it wouldn’t be the first time one of us has been under a spell.” Merlin thought out loud, “First we need to find out if Morgause is a demon.”

“And Cenred, if Morgause is a demon odds are Cenred is too.”

“That makes three demons on our tail at the moment,” Merlin huffed, this conversation was going from worse to bad.

“We have no idea what kind of demons they are.”

“That’s if they are demons,” Merlin said, “I mean we could be over reacting and being paranoid here, my bad vibes could have been just that I didn’t like her.”

“I hope you are right Merlin because we can’t do anything until Morgana gets home, but we should do a demon test on them as soon as possible.”

“Is everything alright?”

Both Merlin and Freya jumped at the sound of Arthur’s voice from the doorway.

“Of course.” Merlin said putting on a smile, hoping it didn’t look too false. “Sorry I guess we got a bit distracted.”

“It’s fine, but Will and Lancelot are here, I thought you should know.”

“Oh I forgot they were coming.” Merlin said, glancing at Freya, they must have been deep in discussion if they didn’t even hear the door go.

“You didn’t tell me Will was coming.” Freya hissed.

“Sorry I forgot, they said they would pop in and check on us.” Merlin explained guiltily.

“Why is his partner here?”

“I think Lancelot has a thing for Gwen.”

“Definitely,” Arthur grinned, “He is making googly eyes at her now.” Arthur laughed.

Merlin gave a genuine smile, “We will be right there.”

“Okay,” Arthur said, leaving to see to Will and Lancelot.

“Are you okay?” Merlin asked Freya.

Just because Will couldn’t accept Freya, didn’t stop their feelings for each other and nor did it stop Will suspicions.

“Yes, no…I don’t know.” Freya said folding her arms and lowering her head. Merlin moved forward and wrapped his arms around her while she put her head on his shoulder.

“Hey,” Merlin murmured gently, “Do you want me to get rid of him?”

“I don’t know,” Freya replied just as quiet, “A big part of me wants to see him but a part of me doesn’t.”

“I will tell him to leave.” Merlin said giving her an extra squeeze. Merlin was about to release her when she stopped him.

“No, no don’t do that,” She sighed, “I will have to face him at some point.” Freya said lifting her head up and extracting herself.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes come on let’s get this over with.” Freya said, moving towards the front room. Merlin following close behind.

They arrived in the room to find everyone had already made themselves comfortable. Lancelot and Gwen were sat on the small sofa, while Arthur was sat on his own on the large sofa, saving a space for Merlin. The only one who didn’t look comfortable was Will who had perched himself on the edge of a chair.

Merlin reflected Arthur’s smile and made his way over to him, leaning against Arthur while he put his arm around Merlin’s shoulders. Merlin loved being in Arthur’s arms like this.

“Freya!” Will gasped standing up, almost as if he didn’t expect to see Freya at all. The tension in the room sky rocketed.

“Will.” Freya nodded, keeping her distance.

“H-How have you been?” Will asked shifting one foot to another. It was a little strange to see Will unsure of himself. He is normally so confident bordering on cocky.

“I’ve been good.” Freya relied. Maintaining her position near the doorway. Merlin patted the spot on his other side encouraging Freya to sit next to him. Freya hesitated for a moment before moving to his side.

“You’re looking better Merlin.” Lancelot said as if he was trying to break the tension in the room.

“I told you I was fine Lancelot.” Merlin smiled, touching his bandage over his eye absentmindedly.

“Please call me Lance it’s much less formal.” Lance replied with his own smile.

“We were just about to watch a movie, do you want to stay and watch it with us?” Gwen asked then gasped looking between Merlin and Freya. “Oh I’m so sorry, that was rude of me, this isn’t my house and I just invited you in.”

“No it’s fine Gwen,” Freya replied, “We are all friends here.” Glancing at Will as if to make a point.

“Freya can we talk please?” Will blurted.

The whole room was silent waiting for Freya to answer. “Yeah okay.” Freya sighed and got up again, Will right behind her as they moved into the hallway. The rest of the room remained silent making their conversation ring loud and clear.

“You have avoiding my calls.” Will stated.

“I’m sorry, I just think its best this way.”

“Why? I don’t understand. Things were going great one moment and not the next, I don’t even know what I did wrong.”

“Things are complicated right now.” Freya said.

“Things are always complicated,” Will said stoically. “I know something is going on, you’re involved in something I know it, I just don’t know what. I wish you would let me help.”

“We are not involved in anything,” Freya lied.

“Oh please!” Will exclaimed, “I don’t buy that for a second, you are always running off on a family emergency, yet your family is always perfectly fine. One or all of you often show up at my crime scenes and it’s always the weird ones. I’m not stupid, you are all involved in some weird stuff like this morning for example, even if Helios was wearing a bullet proof vest, which I don’t believe, he still should have hit the floor. And it’s odd that there is no record at all that this Helios Merrick even exists. Did you give me a false name?”

“No we didn’t, he does have gang connections maybe they wiped his record or something.”

“That’s a load of crap,” Will snapped then lowered his tone so that they could just hear him, “Are you in trouble? If you are I can help, you can trust me.”

“We are fine.” Came the response. The voices got quieter then non-existent as Will and Freya moved away into another room.

Merlin started to chew his lip again, a nervous habit that he couldn’t seem to shake off. He knew Will was suspicious but he was closer than he thought. It does look like a question not of _if_ he finds out but more _when_ he will figure it out.

Merlin looked over to Lance and flinched a little when he found Lance was watching him intently making Merlin very self-conscious of himself.

Does this mean Will has shared his thoughts with Lance or is this Lance just being a good friend to Will? The more Lance stared the more uncomfortable Merlin became and started to fidget in his seat. Arthur must have picked up on the tension as he gave Merlin a reassuring squeeze.

The front door slammed making everyone in the room jump. Merlin was about to leap out of his seat thinking it was Morgana when Freya came back into the room.

“Will has gone home. I’m going to go upstairs for a bit, you guys watch your movie.” Freya said trying to hold back tears.

“Are you okay?” Merlin asked concerned.

“I’m fine,” Freya lied. “Lance, Will said he will see you tomorrow.” Lance nodded in response.

“Just give me a shout if you want me.” Merlin said, “And let me know if you hear anything from Morgana.”

“I will.” Freya agreed before leaving.

Merlin didn’t relax throughout the whole film he had no idea what they were even watching between his concern over Freya and worry over Morgana Merlin didn’t pay attention to a single scene of the film. Even being in Arthur’s arms didn’t help him relax, he was surprised that Arthur didn’t notice the tension coming from him.

He was restless and fidgety, wanting to do something other than sit there. If they didn’t have company Merlin was certain he would be pacing a groove into the floor.

The film was finally over and Gwen saw Lance to the door both remaining on the porch for several minutes before Gwen came back in alone, blushing madly.

Merlin managed to convince Arthur to go to bed without him, it helped that Arthur was exhausted after a day of cleaning and replacing glass. And Merlin waited for Morgana.

Morgana came in alone much later than he had hoped, beaming and almost bouncing on the heels of her feet. Merlin breathed a sigh of relief, Morgana was fine she didn’t look injured or even upset. In fact Morgana was buzzing clearly the date had gone extremely well. But that didn’t mean Morgause wasn’t a demon, Merlin’s first date with Edwin went extremely well and he still tried to kill them all.

“Where is Morgause?” Merlin pounced.

“What?” Morgana asked stunned at the reception.

“Morgause, where is she?”

“She left, she dropped me off outside and went home, why?” Her smile faltering.

Merlin huffed running his hand through his hair, “I wanted to do a demon test on her.” He admitted.

“What? Not you too Merlin, I thought you had more sense.” Morgana snapped, pushing past Merlin aiming for the stairs, “Morgause is not a demon, It’s just Freya saying that to try and stop me from seeing Morgause.”

“Morgana, do you really think that Freya would go that far?” Merlin said following her. “Just to get you to stop seeing Morgause?”

“I didn’t think so too at first, but here she is doing something she promised not to, interfering.”

“Actually it was my idea.” Merlin exaggerated causing Morgana to stop on the stairs and turned to face him.

“What?”

“It was my idea,” Merlin repeated, stopping a few steps down from her. “I got some really bad vibes from her when she was here, and we think it may be my powers advancing,”

“Morgause is not a demon!” Morgana said firmly.

“You can’t be certain of that, Morgana,” Merlin said gently trying to keep Morgana calm, “You have only known her for a short time.”

“This is ridiculous! Morgause was nothing but sweet, she is not a demon.”

Merlin couldn’t contain the snort that escaped his lips. “Morgause and sweet! She may not be a demon but she is definitely not sweet.”

“She was sweet to me.” Morgana snapped.

“Sorry,” Merlin said a little shamefully, “Look surely it couldn’t hurt to do a demon test? We did one on Arthur and Lance, it makes sense to do it with every new person in our lives.”

“No this is stupid, I’m telling you Morgause is not a demon.” Morgana insisted.

“Okay, how about we do a demon test and you get to rub it in our faces if we are wrong.” Merlin compromised. Knowing full well that Morgana wouldn’t hesitate to use it against them for weeks. But he would quiet happily take that than be proven right in this case, trouble was Merlin was convinced he was right. “Better safe than sorry.” Merlin added.

“Okay Merlin, but I promise you when you are proven wrong I will never let you forget it.” Morgana replied with a smirk.

“I hope you will be given that chance, Morgana.” Merlin replied with a sad smile, wiping the smirk of Morgana’s face.

Merlin stepped up past Morgana but when he got to the top he paused for a moment, “Morgana.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m glad you had a nice time.”

“Thanks Merlin.” Morgana replied quietly.

“Goodnight Morgana.”

“Night.” Merlin left Morgana still standing on the stairs and made his way to his bedroom, looking forward to his bed and relaxing now that he knew Morgana was home safe.

 

***

 

Arthur pretended to be asleep when Merlin came to bed that night. He had heard most of their conversation on the stairs as well the last part of the one Merlin had in the kitchen earlier in the evening.

He had followed Merlin back into the kitchen when he dropped off the popcorn and heard them discussing Morgause.

Where Merlin’s powers increasing? He would have to check with The Elders to be sure, but it was certainly possible. Merlin was a warlock and therefore made of magic so it would only make sense that he was more attuned to magic including other people’s magic.

So far only Morgana’s powers had evolved, she could now see the past as well as the future and has speed reading capabilities. That was not easy to find out.

He would have expected Merlin’s to grow first but Morgana was the most active in her craft and was the only who pushed herself for more, whereas both Merlin and Freya were distracted by their jobs.

Demon detecting would certainly be useful, they can’t prick or cut everyone they meet, not to mention it wasn’t exactly fool proof. It wouldn’t surprise him at all if Morgause turned out to be a demon, Arthur was fairly certain she was, he couldn’t feel the vibes that Merlin felt but there was definitely something off about her. And if they were right about Morgause then they were probably right about Cenred too.

Arthur wondered if Merlin would be able to detect other magical beings as well as demons, White-lighters for example. Normally this would be a problem for Arthur but seeing how he intended to tell Merlin soon it didn’t give him cause for concern.

Merlin came to bed and finally relaxed next to him, Merlin was tense all evening, worried about Morgana. But then so was he after what he had heard, he kept his senses on high alert all night for any sign that Morgana might be in trouble. Arthur refused to acknowledge the tension, he didn’t want to force Merlin to lie to him any more than they already did.

Arthur had a restless night, the idea of three demons after the girls and Merlin unsettled him. He was going to have to remain on constant high alert.

At one point Arthur was convinced he heard noises coming from the bathroom in the middle of the night, he didn’t think it was any of the girls he would have heard them get up so he decided to check it out. Better safe than sorry, Merlin’s earlier words echo through his head.

Arthur flicked on the light and gave himself a moment for his eyes to adjust but the bathroom was fine there was nothing out of place, everything looked as it should. The rest of the house was silent, and all the lights were off. Arthur was certain that he heard noises coming from the room, but couldn’t find anything wrong. Shaking his head he decided he was just being paranoid and went back to bed to try and get some sleep with what few hours remained.

 

Everyone was abruptly woken in the early hours by the doorbell followed by banging. Merlin shot out of bed and grabbed his pants and hopped out the room before Arthur could barely sit up. Arthur could hear his footfalls thundering down the stairs quickly followed by several more pairs.

Arthur had to restrain himself from laughing as he too put on his pants, Merlin was usually the slow one in a mornings. Arthur then moved to the landing to listen to the voices in the hallway, making sure to avoid the creaky floorboard, he really needed to fix that.

Arthur couldn’t get close enough to see anything, at least not without giving himself away. But he could still hear Lance and Will talking to Merlin and the girls, the acoustics of the house made the conversation echo up the stairs.

“I’m sorry guys, but this is not a social call.” He heard Will say. “I have a search warrant.”

“What!? What for!?” Merlin snapped along with the sound of paper rustling, which Arthur assumed to be the search warrant.

“This.” He heard Lance say, along with more paper rustling. “It has gone missing from the auction house and Freya was the last one seen with it.” Lance explained.

“So what? You think Freya stole it?” Merlin snapped again.

“That’s a triskelion!” Morgana exclaimed.

“You know what this is?” Will asked.

“Have you seen it here?” Lance queried.

“No of course I haven’t seen it here.” Morgana replied, Arthur could almost hear the eye roll. “It’s a very common symbol, it has a lot of ties to Celtic and Druid religions, it is also used a lot in Wicca and paganism.”

“Wicca?” Lance asked. “You mean witchcraft?”

“Sort of, they are all very similar but they have slight differences.” Morgana explained.

“I will ask again,” Merlin said harshly clearly annoyed, whether at the situation or at Morgana for going on about Wicca again Arthur couldn’t tell, most likely a bit of both. “Do you think Freya stole it?”

“Me personally?” Will asked, “No. But again Freya was the last one seen with it and you did leave work early yesterday. We have to follow the investigation to where ever it takes us and at the moment it is bringing us here.”

“I left early because of what happened to Merlin, you know that.” Freya spoke for the first time.

“I know that but it’s a bit of a coincidence don’t you think?” Will said.

“We’re sorry but we have to search the house.” Lance said.

“Surely there’s been some mistake,” Arthur heard Gwen say.

Arthur suddenly thought back to the noises he heard throughout the night and an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. Leaving the others to their conversation Arthur decided to check the bathroom again before the search could reach upstairs.

Again there was nothing out of place until Arthur decided to look deeper. Checking behind the shower curtain and in the cupboards Arthur didn’t find anything until he opened the draw to the vanity unit next to the sink.

Sitting on top of everything in plain view was a large shining lump of silver in the shape of a triskelion. The metal looked in pristine condition with ancient runes etched onto each leg, unfortunately Arthur was unable to read any of it, committing the runes to memory instead for later translation. Each leg was curled identically, Arthur felt certain that if he measured each leg they would be precisely the same down to the micro meter.

Arthur felt a sense of awe as he stared at it, he knew without knowing that this object was thousands of years old it was as if he could feel time itself emanating from it. He couldn’t feel any power coming from it but it definitely had its own magical aura around it, though good or bad Arthur couldn’t tell. But most importantly Arthur felt like it belonged to him, like it was a part of him that had been separated eons ago. Which made no sense to Arthur.

Arthur knew that this was what Will and Lance were searching for, and knew that it was imperative that they didn’t find it. Arthur didn’t know what this magical artefact was for but he knew in his bones that it was not meant for the mortal world.

Arthur used a hand towel to cover the triskelion, not wanting to get his fingerprints on it should it be found eventually. The object was a bit bigger than Arthur’s hand and was covered easily, it weighed more than he expected too.

Arthur retreated with the triskelion to his old hiding spot on the roof and made himself comfortable around the base of the chimney. He did consider leaving the triskelion there while he went back down, after all his absence would certainly be noticed. But he didn’t want to take the risk, not knowing how the triskelion got there is the first place, at least this way if it looked like anyone was going to find it he could orb out with it.

Arthur was there for at least an hour before he saw Lance and Will leave down the garden path with a sense of Déjà vu. Arthur could hear Merlin calling his name before they had even got in their car, not realising that he was trying to summon him.

He orbed back into the main bathroom which was just across the hall from Merlin’s room. Merlin and Freya were searching the room calling his name, while Gwen was stood to the side with her arms crossed and chewing her lip with a worried look. Arthur was about to reveal himself when he saw Morgana fly past through the crack of the door and holding the book of shadows.

“You guys I was right,” Morgana panted, having rushed. Throwing the book on Merlin’s bed and speeding through the pages. “That Triskelion thing is in here. It’s a magical artefact.”

“Unless Arthur is in that book I don’t care.” Merlin snapped.

“Merlin.” Morgana warned, “Look it’s obvious that Arthur skipped out somehow, maybe that’s his secret maybe he is in trouble with the law, makes sense seeing how he skipped out when Will and Lance arrived.”

“No.” Merlin retorted. “He was fine all night last night with Lance, we all watched a film together.” Arthur felt the guilt stab at him in the gut, he didn’t realise how much trouble the girls were giving him over his secret.

“I don’t know what to tell you Merlin, but he is not here.” Morgana said softly. “I’m sure he will turn up with a reason.”

“What does the book say?” Freya asked, changing the subject.

“The Triskelion.” Morgana read out loud.

**__ **

_The Triskelion_

_Shrouded in myth and rumour._

_Originally in three separate pieces before they were joined as one. Some say it is a map some say it is a key, to what is unknown._

_An old rumour suggests that it is linked to Dragons and Dragonlords although how or why is unknown._

_The Triskelion itself has become a myth as it has not been sighted for almost two thousand years._

“Dragons!” Merlin shouted.

“Dragonlords? What’s a Dragonlord? Does it say anything else?” Freya asked.

“It doesn’t say anything else about the Triskelion,” Morgana said with her eyes still on the book, “But there is a small passage about Dragons and Dragonlords on the same page.”

Morgana continued to read:

 

_Very little is known about Dragons other than the fact that they are winged creatures of magic that breathe fire, born from an egg. The last known Dragon was sighted over two thousand years ago._

_Dragonlords_

_Dragonlords are said to be able to command, control and hatch Dragons. The Dragonlord gene is passed down from father to son upon the father’s death. If the Dragonlord gene is still in existence today it is most likely dormant. The last known active Dragonlord was also two thousand years ago._

 

Arthur’s mind instantly went back to the old prophesies that he had read. The rebirth of an old great magical race it said, did this mean it was Dragons or Dragonlords or even both? And how did this involve Arthur?

Dragons where indeed an old great magical race that had thought to have been extinct, how would this Triskelion rebirth them? He will have to consult The Elders on this, but first The Charmed Ones needed to know about The Triskelion.

Arthur orbed himself down to the bottom of the stairs and made a big noise going up them, to make it look like he had just come in and to give them a chance to hide their book, still holding the covered Triskelion in his hand.

“Merlin!” He called.

“Arthur!” Merlin shouted in return and met him at the top of the stairs after running out of his room, “Where have you been?”

“I need to talk to you. Where is everyone else?”

Merlin frowned at not getting an answer, “In my room.”

“Come on then,” Arthur said as he grabbed Merlin’s hand and dragged him back to his room.

When Arthur entered the room he noticed the book poorly hidden under Merlin’s blanket where Morgana was sat.

“Arthur where were you?” Merlin repeated.

“Hiding.” Arthur said deciding to go with the truth.

“Hiding? Where?” Merlin asked.

“Why?” Freya asked through narrowed eyes.

“The roof.” Arthur said simply with a small grin.

“The roof!” Merlin shouted, “How?”

“Why?” Freya repeated.

“Okay first, I have always been really good at climbing and no one ever thinks to check the roof. As to why,” Arthur continued before Freya could ask again. “I didn’t sleep well last night, I was restless for most of the night. At one point I could have sworn I heard noises in the bathroom but when I checked everything looked fine.” Arthur explained, sticking with the truth as much as possible, which was surprisingly easy. “Then I heard Will and Lance at the door earlier as I was on my way down to you guys. I heard them go on about something missing and…I don’t know…it’s hard to explain but I felt the need to check again before Lance and Will. And it’s a good thing I did.” He paused taking a deep breath, “Because I found this.” Arthur finished and placed the Triskelion on bed and removed the cover without touching the metal.

Everyone took a deep intake of air at the shock of seeing the magical artefact in front of them. “I haven’t touched it,” Arthur said, “I thought it best not to get any fingerprints on it.” He explained hoping they would all follow the same example.

He didn’t really want anyone touching it and setting it off, especially if they didn’t know what it did.

“That was quick thinking Arthur,” Freya complimented, causing Arthur to smile at her, it was very rare to get any sort of compliment out of Freya.

“But how did it get there?” Morgana asked.

“I don’t know,” Arthur said, “All I know is that I heard what sounded like someone moving around in there last night, but there was no one there when I checked. Was the front door locked properly last night?” Arthur asked trying to offer a non-demon explanation. He glanced over to Merlin to find him staring intently at the Triskelion, his facial expression was unreadable.

“Yes.” Morgana answered, “I was right behind Merlin this morning and saw him unlock the door to open it.”

“But who?” Freya asked, “Who would put it there and why?”

“I have no idea.” Morgana said shaking her head.

“If I may?” Gwen asked, making herself known.

“Sure, go ahead Gwen,” Morgana smiled, glancing at Merlin who was still staring at the artefact.

“From what I know…from what you have told me this has come from Camelot Auction House right?” Gwen checked, both Morgana and Freya nodded. “That means there are four possible connections, four possible people that we know of.”

“Who?” Freya asked.

“Well there is Freya,” Gwen continued gesturing to Freya, “Who works there, then there is Morgana who has also do some work there and is dating one of the owners, and then there are the owners themselves.” Gwen said not actually saying their names.

“Well I didn’t do it.” Morgana defended.

“Neither did I,” Freya said.

“And that leaves two possible people.” Gwen surmised.

“Morgause and Cenred,” Freya sighed. “But I don’t understand why?”

“Well it’s not Morgause.” Morgana snapped. “So it must be Cenred.”

“We don’t know that Morgana, it could be either one of them.” Freya said gently shooting Arthur wary glances, clearly unwilling to say much with him around.

“Merlin?” Arthur asked moving to touch Merlin’s arm becoming concerned that Merlin still hadn’t said a word.

Merlin jumped at the contact as if he was in some sort of trance. “It’s mine.” Merlin blurted.

“What!?” Morgana and Freya shouted.

“Merlin you have never seen this before, it can’t possibly be yours” Morgana reasoned.

“It belongs to Camelot Auction House.” Freya said while Merlin started to shake his head.

“No it’s mine.” Merlin repeated still not taking his eyes of the Triskelion.

Arthur moved directly in front of him to block his view. Merlin flinched again and looked up, blinking repeatedly and taking in the room as if he didn’t realise where he was.

“It’s mine.” Merlin said again, looking and speaking to Arthur.

“What do you mean Merlin?” Arthur asked.

“I don’t know. Your right Morgana I have never seen it before, but I know that it’s mine as sure as I know my name is Merlin, it feels as if it was made for me, it belongs to me, it’s mine.” Merlin said firmly, not taking his eyes from Arthur. Arthur struggled to contain the shiver of pure want that coursed through his body, at the intensity of Merlin’s stare and declaration.

Arthur had a gut feeling he knew what Merlin was on about but he will have to check it with The Elders. Did Merlin have the dormant gene?

Arthur also couldn’t help but notice Merlin’s word choice. When Arthur saw the Triskelion he felt exactly the same way. But Merlin is saying it belongs to him, does that mean Arthur belongs to Merlin too? Or are they all connected together? The prophesies rang in Arthur’s head again. The prophesies said that Merlin’s soul mate was needed to help trigger the rebirth of an old great magical race, is that what this connection was?

“But that’s ridiculous Merlin.” Morgana laughed weakly, who was also shooting Arthur wary glances.

It was clear they wanted him to leave so that they could talk more freely.

“Arthur?” Freya asked.

“Yeah?” He asked looking at Freya and finally breaking eye contact with Merlin and released a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Would you mind giving us a few moments please?”

“You want me to leave.” Arthur stated, looking back at Merlin who was now shifting uncomfortably and taking great interest in his feet.

“If you wouldn’t mind yes, we would like to talk about this as a family first.”

“Okay.” Arthur agreed, thinking he could use this time to go and speak to The Elders, “I have a few errands I need to run anyway.” Arthur neglected to mention that Gwen was not part of the family but he knew she knew their secret and Freya clearly still mistrusted Arthur.

Not that he blamed her really, he knew they knew he was keeping a secret. A secret that he was going to tell them about very very soon, he had had enough of all this sneaking about and talking behind backs. Tonight Arthur thought adamantly, I will tell them tonight. Arthur thought he would feel nervous about it, but he didn’t, he is almost looking forward to it will be a relief to get everything out in the open.

Arthur clasped Merlin around the back of his neck forcing Merlin to look up at him, Arthur saw the guilt he felt reflected in his eyes. It appears Arthur’s not the only one to feel guilty about keeping secrets. Arthur didn’t know what to say, nothing he could say could take away the guilt. So Arthur kissed him instead, hard. Arthur kept the kiss very chaste they were in front of the girls after all, but still tried to push all his warmth and trust into it.

“I will be back later,” Arthur croaked, and left the room hastily without making eye contact with anyone else. Arthur orbed out before he got to the front door.

 

Orbing straight up to The Elders Arthur found a large group of them talking amongst themselves.

“Elders.” Arthur announced himself with his usual head bow.

“Arthur.” The Elders welcomed, “You have news?”

“Yes” Arthur replied. “I need to know what you know about the Triskelion.”

“The Triskelion is a symbol often used in witchcraft.” One of the Elders replied.

“No not the symbol, the actual artefact of the Triskelion.” Arthur corrected.

The Elders remained silent for a moment before one of them eventually replied, “The Triskelion is a myth Arthur.”

“No its not.” Arthur confirmed.

“The Triskelion has not been seen for around two thousand years, there is a great debate as to whether or not it existed in the first place.”

“Oh it’s real alright.” Arthur said, “The Charmed Ones have it, I’ve seen it, I’ve held it.”

“This changes things,” One of the Elders said hastily to another. “The Triskelion could rebirth the Dragons.” Another said, they were no longer talking to Arthur but amongst themselves again. “This was part of the old prophesies” another said, “Nonsense the old prophesies are false.”

“So it’s true then?” Arthur interrupted, “The Triskelion could be used to rebirth the Dragons?”

“You know it can rebirth the Dragons?” An Elder asked surprised.

“It’s in their Book of Shadows,” Arthur exaggerated. “They just don’t know how.”

“Maybe its best they don’t know for now” An Elder said.

Arthur shook his head, “There are runes on the Triskelion, I couldn’t translate them but I guarantee you The Charmed Ones will try.”

“Can you remember what they looked like?”

“Yes.”

“Could you write them down? So that we could translate them.” An Elder approached Arthur handing him a piece of paper and pencil. Arthur hesitated for a brief moment, he had to remind himself that they were all on the same side. The Elders are the good guys.

Arthur quickly wrote them down and passed the paper back and Arthur waited while they discussed it. Several minutes went by and The Elders were still talking, Arthur had to clear his throat to draw attention back to himself. “Do you know what they say?” Arthur asked.

The Elders were hesitating too, Arthur didn’t understand why. But eventually an Elder replied. “It says ‘When two halves become whole I will show you the way.’” Arthur’s heart skipped a beat, show the way? Show the way to what?

“Do you know what that means?” Arthur asked, he had a gut feeling he knew what the first part was about but didn’t want to let on to The Elders that he had been researching the old prophesies.

“We have theories and ideas nothing more than speculation at this point.” That was not a no but nor was it a yes. “We want you to keep a very close eye on this situation Arthur.” An Elder ordered.

Arthur had to refrain from rolling his eyes at how contradicting the Elders were lately, in their last meeting they wanted him to keep his distance. “Let us know immediately if you get any more information.” An Elder said in a dismissive tone, but Arthur wasn’t done yet.

“Actually I have one more question.” Arthur called before they could all walk off.

“Yes?”

“Is Merlin a Dragonlord?”

Silence rang out around the airy room as the Elders were stunned into silence. It didn’t take long before one of them regained her senses, “What makes you ask that young Arthur?” This time the voice was female.

“There is a passage in their book about Dragonlords, about their abilities passing down from father to son, Merlin’s father has recently passed and Merlin was oddly transfixed with the Triskelion.”

“Transfixed in what way?” Arthur couldn’t help but notice that they weren’t answering his questions.

“He was completely mesmerised by it, almost as if he was in a trance. He also said it was his, that the Triskelion belonged to him, that it was made for him.”

This information set the Elders off again, only this time with a hint of panic in their voices. “How is that possible?” One said, “His genes are supposed to be dormant.” Said another, “Not as dormant as we thought,” Says a third, “They may not be active yet either.” Said a fourth, “But they are definitely waking up.”

“You knew!” Arthur blurted. “You knew he was a Dragonlord.”

“Of course we knew.” An Elder replied. “We have kept a close eye on the Dragonlord family tree.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We believed the gene to be dormant or dead. There hasn’t been an active Dragonlord since the time of the last dragon thousands of years ago. And the Triskelion was believed to be a myth, we didn’t see any situation where it would be relevant.” An Elder ranted.

“Well its relevant now,” Arthur huffed. “Would it be such a bad thing if the dragons were reborn?” Arthur asked trying to understand their panic.

“Of course it would,” An Elder replied, “Dragons are mindless beast and they would cause havoc on the mortal world and expose us all.”

“How do you know they are mindless beasts?” Arthur asked, if it was thousands of years ago since they were last seen how could anyone know, he knew the Elders were old but hundreds of years old not thousands.

“There are records, stories, myths and legends that tell us what the dragons were like.” An Elder explained.

“But stories and legends can be changed and twisted over time, they can be changed to meet the story teller’s needs.” Arthur said, “Given our vast knowledge of magic there must surely be a way to contain them and let them live peacefully.”

“He’s right,” An Elder replied, a voice who Arthur recognised to be Kilgharrah’s “There is no need to panic over the situation, we have handled far worse than this.”

“But not dragons,” An Elder retorted.

“There are many mindless magical beasts in this world and we contain those well enough. If the dragons are mindless beasts we will contain those too.” Kilgharrah rationalised.

Kilgharrah’s calming words seemed to do the trick for now. The Elders all went off leaving Kilgharrah behind, they were still talking amongst themselves but in calmer tones.

Arthur still felt wrong footed, he had never seen the Elders react in such a way before.

“I’ve never seen them behave that way before,” Arthur admitted when Kilgharrah approached, “Is this still about their fear of Merlin?”

“You must understand young Arthur, nobody other than White-Lighters has ever had the power to come up here. And not only will Merlin eventually have the power to do so but he could destroy them if he wanted.” Kilgharrah explained.

“But Merlin wouldn’t!”

“I know, but The Elders have never faced such a personal threat before, and this is proof that Merlin’s powers are growing. Growing in ways they didn’t expect.”

“Merlin isn’t a threat,” Arthur snapped.

“No he is not a threat and The Elders don’t really think he is a threat but rather he has the potential be a threat to them and that makes them uncomfortable.” Kilgharrah explained.

Arthur huffed, it didn’t matter what anyone said, the idea that Merlin could be a threat to anyone was ludicrous to him. “So Merlin is a Dragonlord?” Arthur asked changing the subject.

“It would seem so.” Kilgharrah smiled.

“Is the gene active or not?” Arthur asked.

“That’s what is puzzling at the moment, the gene isn’t dormant but not quite active either, otherwise Merlin would have felt the pull of the Triskelion from anywhere.”

“How does a dormant gene become active?”

“Normally the gene is passed through father to son and becomes active upon the father’s death but because the gene has been so dormant for so long it needs an extra…..kick to become active.” Kilgharrah replied.

“What kick?”

“Merlin needs to become whole for the gene to activate.”

Arthur frowned in confusion “Whole?”

“You Arthur,” Kilgharrah huffed, “You are Merlin’s soul mate, his other half. You two need to be intimate. The act of love making is an often a powerful ritual because it signifies the two souls merging together as one making you complete, whole. Even more so with two magical beings such as yourself and merlin and when you add the fact that you are soul mates it is very powerful indeed, enough to reawaken a dormant gene.” Kilgharrah explained.

“But…er…we…already have.” Arthur blushed, not wanting to talk about his sex life with his old mentor.

“Since his father has died?” Arthur simply nodded in response. “Then it should have worked, why didn’t it work?” Kilgharrah frowned in his own confusion.

Kilgharrah snapped his head up and narrowed his eyes at Arthur, “You have declared your love for each other?”

“Er…no.” Arthur replied, not looking Kilgharrah in the eye.

“And here I thought you were smart.” Kilgharrah sighed. “That’s an important part of the ritual. It is not complete unless you declare your love and open yourselves up fully to one another. As long as you’re both holding back the ritual is not yet complete.” Kilgharrah paused, “This explains why Merlin’s genes are in a state of flux, you have started the ritual but not finished it. And why you both felt a connection with the Triskelion, even if it’s not a complete connection.”

“So all we have to do is tell each other we love each other?” Arthur confirmed as if it was easy.

“If it was so simple why hasn’t it been done yet?”

“It just doesn’t feel right, not with so many secrets and lies between us.” Arthur said, “I am going to tell him, I am going to tell him everything. Including me being a White-Lighter, I wanted to give you a heads up first because they,” Arthur nodded in the direction in which the other Elders left, “Are not going to like it.”

“Well it’s about time you trusted your instincts Arthur.”

Arthur stared at Kilgharrah dumbstruck.

“That’s…That’s what you meant by telling me to trust my instincts?!”

Kilgharrah chuckled. “Your instincts have been telling you to tell the truth from the very beginning. I’m an Elder so I couldn’t tell you to go against the others so I did the next best thing and told you to trust your instincts. I had hoped you would work it out sooner, but better late than never I suppose.”

“Well you could have explained it a bit better instead of being all cryptic about it.” Arthur huffed, feeling like an idiot, not a feeling he liked.

“I couldn’t, I couldn’t go against The Elders. I may be one of the oldest here Arthur but I’m not in charge I still have to follow the rules.”

“How old are you?” Arthur asked, a question he had been meaning to ask for a while now.

“Ah that young Arthur is a question for another day.” Kilgharrah answered, back to being cryptic.

“Fine.” Arthur answered, knowing not to push. “Are Merlin’s powers growing?” Arthur asked, “Only he says he was getting some bad vibes from Morgause and they now think that Merlin’s powers are increasing, becoming like a demon detector.”

“It’s entirely possible. He could sensing the magic of others, it would have to be powerful magic for him to pick up on it. We have been expecting young Merlin’s powers to grow for a little while now but we were thinking it would be something bigger.”

“I don’t know sensing magic seems pretty big to me. Definitely useful.” Arthur admitted.

“I will check with the other Elders, see if they know anything about his powers” Kilgharrah agreed.

“Thank you Kilgharrah,” Arthur said.

“Good luck with Merlin, young Arthur.”

“Thanks,” Arthur smiled sadly, “I think I’m going to need it, I just hope he doesn’t hate me for all the lies.”

“Nonsense,” Kilgharrah said as he started to back away, “A half cannot truly hate that which makes him whole” Kilgharrah finished.

 

***

 

Merlin spent the rest of the morning fending off Morgana and Freya. They both seemed to think he knew all about the triskelion, when he had no clue. They were constantly pestering him about dragons and Dragonlords, their main theory is that he was some kind of Dragonlord. He didn’t know anything about the Triskelion the only thing that he knew for certain was that it was his.

The moment he laid his eyes on it, he knew it. It was like it was calling to him. He could feel it in his bones making his whole body feel like it was vibrating a little. It was actually very un-nerving. Merlin didn’t know what to think or feel about it.

Was he a Dragonlord? The book said that Dragonlords could command and control dragons, does this mean he can control dragons? This was the bit that made Merlin the most anxious about, how much control would he have? Would he have complete control? This felt wrong to Merlin no one should have complete control over any living thing. Did dragons even exist? Surely people would have noticed dragons flying around the place setting fire to things. But then Merlin remembered thinking that way about magic once and now they have discovered that magic and demons are real so why not dragons too?

Merlin shook his head to try and clear the thoughts that were going round in circles in his head. At the end the day he really didn’t know anything.

Just that it was his.

 

Thankfully Gwen suggested they research the runes on the Triskelion on the internet to try and translate them. This not only gave them a lead that would hopefully lead to some clues but it also succeeded in getting the girls off his back for a while, for which Merlin could have kissed her for.

Merlin left them to it while he started cleaning, nothing really needed cleaning but he needed to do something with his hands. He didn’t get very far when Morgana came down the stairs and headed towards the front door.

“Where are you going?” Merlin asked.

Morgana sighed and turned around to face Merlin slowly, “I’m going to see Morgause.”

“What? Why?” Merlin asked rushing towards Morgana.

“Maybe I can talk to her,” Morgana answered. “Tell that this is all a big mistake, maybe she will help us.”

“Morgana,” Merlin said gently, “There is every chance that Morgause is involved in this.”

“She’s not.” Morgana snapped.

Merlin could see the determination in her eyes and knew that he wouldn’t be able to persuade her out of this. “Fine,” Merlin huffed, “But you are not going on your own.”

“For fuck’s sake Merlin, I’m telling you that Morgause is not a demon.” Morgana replied heated.

“You may be right,” Merlin offered, “But you may be wrong. I’m not going to let it drop until we have done a demon test.” Merlin said firmly, showing his own determination.

“Who is going to come with then? You?” Morgana scoffed.

“It has to be me.” Merlin said. “Freya is a suspect, so she can’t go near the auction house. And Helios is still out there for Gwen so it wouldn’t be safe for her go either. That leaves me.” Merlin explained.

“Fine, come on then.” Morgana snapped, grabbing her coat.

“Speaking of Helios, don’t you think it’s odd that he hasn’t attacked again?” Merlin asked while he reached for his own jacket.

Morgana froze in the process of putting on her coat. “I hadn’t thought about it,” Morgana admitted. “With everything else going on I forgot about him.”

“Have you got your potion?” Merlin checked.

“Erm…” Morgana said patting down her pockets and checking her bag, “Yes!” She exclaimed once she found it in her bag. “It’s only been a day since he attacked, it just feels longer with so much going on.” Morgana reasoned.

“Yes but demons aren’t really known for their patience.”

“Well at least we are prepared for him this time.” Morgana said. “Come on, I want to see Morgause. And Merlin let me do all the talking.” Morgana said firmly.

“I have no desire to talk to Morgause,” Merlin replied, “But I am doing a demon test.”

“Fine, but be prepared to do some major grovelling when you are proved wrong.” Morgana huffed.

The journey to Camelot auction action house was a silent one. Merlin didn’t think he would be glad to be going to see Morgause again but they desperately needed to break this stale mate, they needed to know one way or another if Morgause was a demon. For Morgana’s sake more than anything else.

They found Morgause sitting in her office alone on the top floor doing some paperwork. Morgana knocked on the open door before waltzing in and sitting in the chair opposite Morgause, Merlin trailed behind slowly and stood behind Morgana making sure to keep his distance from Morgause. Morgana had a big grin on her face but Merlin couldn’t help but notice that Morgause didn’t look as happy to see Morgana this time.

“Do come in,” Morgause said with a hint of sarcasm.

Morgana’s smile faltered a little, “Morgause,” Morgana replied sweetly. “I had a great last night.”

“Yes, but I sense that is not why you are here now.” Morgause replied coldly.

“Ah…No.” Morgana hesitated, clearly taken back by the cold reception. “I was hoping to talk to you about the misunderstanding with Freya.”

“Oh, there is no misunderstanding.” Morgause replied. “Your sister is a thief that is clear.”

“Freya is not a thief.” Morgana replied sharply before softening her voice, “Please Morgause this is a misunderstanding, Freya would never do anything like that.”

“Oh I rather think so, and I’m pretty sur-“ Morgause started before Merlin froze her mid-sentence.

“Merlin?” Morgana asked weakly.

“I’m doing the demon test,” Merlin replied, moving forward to find something sharp on her desk. Finding a paper clip which he then quickly straightened out and proceeded to stab Morgause’s hand, hard. Morgana remained silent throughout. Once Merlin had moved back into his position he unfroze the room.

“-e that this is not the first time,” Morgause continued, while she rubbed and frowned at her hand. There was no blood, the skin was hardly even red.

Merlin was contemplating if he had done the test correctly when Morgause looked up at Merlin to saw the paper clip in his hand.

“Oh did you just do a demon test on me?” Morgause asked lightly.

“There’s no blood,” Morgana stated quietly. Shock written all over her now pale face.

“No. there’s not.” Morgause replied unconcerned, “Oh well I guess this means you caught me, which is just as well because now I can drop this ridiculous charade.”

“You’re a demon.” Merlin stated.

“Obviously,” Morgause drawled.

“But I thought you liked me?” Morgana asked gaining her voice back.

“It’s true you are my type, which only made the seduction all the more easier.” Morgause explained. “But you all reek of pureness and good magic which is quite frankly sickening.” Morgause finished with a sneer.

“But why?” Morgana asked.

“To find out if you were The Charmed Ones of course.” Morgause stated simply, “Which of course you made that very easy for me. Going on and on about Wicca.”

“What do you want from us?” Merlin asked firmly to stop Morgause from goading Morgana any further.

“Your powers of course.” Morgause said like it should have been clear from the beginning, which it probably should, most demons want their powers, that or to kill them.

“And if we don’t?” Merlin growled.

“Then poor little Freya goes to jail. The police may not have found the Triskelion this morning but there is plenty more evidence. CCTV for example, of Freya handling items before they have conveniently gone missing. And there just happens to be a safe box at the local bank in Freya’s name which holds said missing items and with her finger prints all over them. We have already given the police a list of missing items.” She explained. “If Freya goes to jail then we get your house as compensation. Did you know that your house sits right on top of a ley-line? All that raw magic underneath being used for good.” Morgause sneered. “So you see it’s a win win for us.” Morgause grinned leaning back in her chair. “Your powers or your house. And with Freya in jail the power of three is separated.”

“And how do we know that if we give you our powers you won’t send Freya to jail anyway?” Merlin snapped.

“You don’t” Morgause grinned.

“We?” Merlin asked.

“Cenred of course.”

“You played me you bitch.” Morgana shouted, leaping up from her chair.

“And it was all too easy.” Morgause replied.

“Come on Morgana,” Merlin said grabbing hold of her arm and started to pull towards the door. “We need to go and work this out.”

“Just a moment.” Morgause called. Getting up and taking an old fashioned lantern from a cupboard behind her desk. “Use this to store your powers and bring it to us tonight.” Morgause said, handing Merlin the lantern. “And don’t try anything stupid or Freya will find herself in hand cuffs before you know it.” Morgause finished before shoving them out of the door and slamming it behind them.

“How could I be so stupid?” Morgana exclaimed once they got back in the car.

“You weren’t stupid Morgana.” Merlin replied gently.

“How can you say that Merlin. Both you and Freya have been telling me that she was a demon but I wouldn’t listen.” Morgana snapped. “You should be saying I told you so.”

“You know full well I would never say that.” Merlin said firmly.

“Why not? I would have.”

“You have just been hurt Morgana, I would never rub that in your face. And if the situation was reversed I know you wouldn’t either.”

“How do you know that? I could have.”

“Because you didn’t.” Merlin replied gently, “You are not the first to date a demon remember.” Merlin pointed out. “At least you found out now before you got too attached.”

“I did get attached.” Morgana said gently.

“I know, and for that I am really sorry. I really wish I had been wrong.”

“So do I.” Morgana sighed sadly.

 

Gwen and Freya were waiting for them in the kitchen when they arrived home.

“We have translated the ruins.”

“Morgause is a demon.”

Both Freya and Merlin said at the same time.

“You first,” Merlin sighed, “Got a feeling yours will be quicker.”

“Well we have translated them but we don’t know what it means.” Gwen said.

“Well what does it say?” Merlin asked keeping an eye on Morgana who was stood quietly in the corner of the kitchen.

“When two halves become whole, I will show you the way.” Freya informed them.

“When two halves of what become whole? Show the way to what?”

“Like Gwen said we don’t know what it means.” Freya said.

“Right well we will work that out later. We have more important things to worry about at the moment.” Merlin said, as he had no clue what that could mean.

“Morgause?” Freya asked.

“Yeah.”

The room was left in a shocked silence when Merlin had finished explaining everything that had happened in Morgause’s office.

“What are you going to do?” Gwen asked after a while breaking the silence.

“There is only one thing we can do.” Freya said.

“Surely you are not thinking about giving up your powers?” Morgana exclaimed, speaking for the first time since they got home.

“But they could still make sure you get sent to jail, and then they would have both your powers and your house.” Gwen said.

“And without our powers there is nothing to stop them from picking us off one by one.” Morgana insisted.

“We are open to suggestions.” Merlin offered.

“We take them out first.” Morgana said.

“How? We don’t even know what kind of demons they are, and no idea how to fight against them.” Freya asked.

“We make every potion and throw them all at them.” Morgana said heatedly.

“There isn’t time.” Merlin said. “Plus if we try anything we lose Freya.”

“Will, will make sure she doesn’t go to jail.” Morgana said.

“He won’t be able to, not with that amount of evidence against her.” Merlin reasoned. “There is only so much Will can do.”

“Why don’t you talk to Will.” Gwen said. “Tell him they are blackmailing you.”

“And how do we explain what they are blackmailing us with?” Freya asked.

“Besides he probably already suspects something is going one. He knows Freya didn’t steal anything,” Merlin offered, “But without proof he can’t do anything about it.”

“So that’s it then, we give up.” Morgana snapped.

“What about the Triskelion?” Gwen offered. “Can you plant it back in their office for the police to find?”

“We can’t let them have that back.” Merlin said. “It’s a magical artefact it doesn’t belong in the mortal world.”

“Did Morgause ask for it back?” Freya asked. Merlin shook his head, “Then they probably don’t know what it is. Or how important it is.”

“It makes no difference at the moment, plus we don’t know what it is really.” Merlin said.

“And even if we did manage to plant it in her office they still have other evidence against me.” Freya said. “Nice try though.”

“Okay, how about we make every potion we can in the few hours remaining and when we go to them tonight hope that one of them will do the job.” Merlin suggested.

“That would mean still giving up our powers and handing them over.” Morgana protested.

“That’s leaving a lot to chance.” Freya frowned.

“If anyone comes up with a better idea before then I’m all ears.” Merlin said firmly, they needed to make a decision on this they were running out of time. Merlin let the silence settle for a moment hoping that someone would come up with something. “Right then,” He continued when no one did, “Grab all the ingredients we can find so we can start brewing.”

The Emrys household became a flurry of activity as all three members rushed around grabbing ingredients, bowls and potion bottles, with Gwen helping where ever she could. After a few hours the three Emrys’s were gathered around the small table in the attic while Gwen was putting stoppers into the small bottles. They had managed to get a small stock of potions together, Merlin could only hope they would be enough.

“I can’t believe we are really doing this.” Morgana sighed. Placing the Book of Shadows on table next to the old fashioned lantern that Morgause had given them, ready for the power relinquishing spell.

“I don’t see any other choice.” Merlin replied.

“At least we won’t be completely defenceless,” Freya nodded to the potions next to Gwen.

“I only wish we could have taken out Helios first, at least that way Gwen would be safe.” Merlin said, “I still think it’s odd that he hasn’t attacked since.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Gwen interrupted from her corner, “You got enough on your plates at the moment.”

Merlin tried to think back to before they had their powers. It was almost a year ago now but to Merlin it felt like it was another life time. He couldn’t imagine himself going back to that life. Granted it was much safer but it was also dull with no sense of purpose like he was a robot going through the same motions every day. He never realised how empty his life was until he got his magic.

Merlin sighed, it was not something he would have to try and imagine, it was about to become a reality. A life without magic.

At least he would still have Arthur, which is assuming they survive the night. Merlin had no illusions that Morgause and Cenred were going to let them walk out of the building alive once they had handed over their powers.

“We should take the book with us this time.” Morgana blurted interrupting Merlin’s musings.

“What? Why?”

“We never take the book,” Freya pointed out, “The book never leaves the attic.”

“I don’t know,” Morgana admitted, “I’ve just seen us in the halls of Camelot Auction House with the book. Someone was doing something to it.”

“Doing what?” Merlin asked.

“I’m not sure,” Morgana answered, shaking her head, “All I saw was something glowing brightly above it.”

“Then your premonition could be a warning, a warning to make sure we leave the book behind.” Freya said.

“No, there was a feeling of….relief around it,” Morgana hesitated to find the right word. “Besides why would I get a premonition warning us not to take the book when we never take the book anyway?”

“Then we take the book,” Merlin said firmly. He had grown to put a lot of faith in Morgana’s premonitions, she had them for a reason.

“Merlin-“ Freya started.

“We are about to give up our powers Freya,” Merlin interrupted before she could continue, “It can’t be any worse than that. And as much as we hate to admit it you can’t deny that Morgana is right nine times out of ten. If her premonition says we take the book then we take the book.”

Freya deflated where she sat, “Your right,” she sighed, “I don’t like this,”

“None of us do.” Morgana said gently.

“Did you know our house sat on a ley-line?” Merlin asked, remembering what Morgause said earlier.

“Of course,” Morgana replied rolling her eyes, “It’s in the book. Seriously don’t you read?”

“Even I knew that Merlin,” Freya added with a smile, “It’s where we draw our power from.”

“Oh.” Merlin mumbled.

“Come on,” Freya said gathering herself, “We need to stop stalling and get this over with.”

“Right,” Morgana sighed, “We need to hold hands and each repeat the incantation once.” Morgana instructed.

“Wait that’s it?” Merlin exclaimed, “You would think giving up our powers would be more complicated than that, with potions or drops of blood or something like that.”

“That’s it.” Morgana confirmed.

“Seems so anti-climactic.” Merlin mumbled.

The sound of creaking floorboards from outside the attic door startled them. “Gwen.” Merlin said, “Can you go and see if that is Arthur, he is due any minute. Stall him or distract him or something please.” Merlin rushed.

“Sure thing, Merlin,” Gwen smiled, quickly making her way to the door, “And good luck.”

“Thanks,” Merlin replied as Gwen left. “I think we are going to all the luck we can get.” He continued to the two remaining girls.

Freya nodded as she pulled the book closer so that they could all read it, then grabbed one of both Merlin’s and Morgana’s hand, while Merlin and Morgana clasped their remaining hands together. Freya started to read aloud:

_“From whence it came_

_Return them now._

_Vanish the words_

_Vanish our powers.”_

Morgana took a deep breath before going next.

_“From whence it came_

_Return them now._

_Vanish the words_

_Vanish our powers.”_

Merlin hesitated, quickly running through their options through his mind to make sure they hadn’t missed anything, before he too read the incantation.

_“From whence it came_

_Return them now._

_Vanish the words_

_Vanish our powers.”_

As soon as the last words had left his mouth a small but strong wind blew through the attic centring on the table and the three Emrys’s. Bright white orbs started to lift out of their bodies and into the wind. The pages of the book started to turn over with the force of the wind. The wind got faster as more orbs joined the others. Merlin noticed that his orbs were golden rather than the white of Freya’s and Morgana’s. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was their powers Merlin would think the sight stunning. Gold and white orbs circled around them before lifting higher into the air. The orbs then hovered to the centre of the table above the lantern. One by one each was sucked into the lantern in quick succession. Once the last orb had been drawn into the lantern the wind and the book stilled, leaving the room in silence with nothing to be heard apart from their heavy breathing.

Merlin suddenly felt drained and exhausted, the empty pit of the bottom of stomach started to churn, making him feel queasy.

“Well that certainly wasn’t anti-climactic.” Freya said once she got her breath back.

“Look at the book.” Morgana said mournfully. The book was empty, each page that Morgana flicked through was completely clean, blank, almost as if the book was always blank. If Merlin didn’t know the book had been in their family for century’s he could almost be fooled into thinking the book was brand new.

“Why was your magic was a different colour Merlin?” Morgana asked.

Merlin shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe because I’m male. It doesn’t really matter now does it?” Merlin stated rather than asking.

“No, I suppose not.” Morgana replied quietly.

“Well it’s no good moping around,” Freya sniffed, “Let’s go get this over with.”

It was with a shocked silence that the three of them got up and gathered up the potion, Morgana clutching the book tightly to her chest. Not wanting to dwell on what they had just done, they quickly descended down the stairs to find Gwen hovering at the bottom.

“Gwen?” Merlin asked, “Where is Arthur?”

“I….sent him to the shop.” Gwen lied, blushing.

“The shop?” Merlin asked, seeing through the lie. “For what?”

“Er….Women’s stuff.” Gwen beamed with a glint in her eye.

“W-women’s stuff.” Merlin stuttered, that was the last thing he expected.

“Yep.” Gwen grinned, swaying on the ball of her feet giddily.

“You sent Arthur to the shop for women’s stuff,” Merlin confirmed.

“Yep.” Gwen repeated.

“Wow, your good,” Morgana laughed, “I can’t even get Merlin to go for my stuff when I need it.”

“Well I figured it would be best to get him out of the house for a little bit, while you do what you needed to do.” Gwen replied confidently. Merlin frowned, no longer sure if she was lying or not.

“Yes well we had better go, before he comes back and we have to explain where we have gone.” Freya interrupted.

“Gwen, if we don’t come back, tell Arthur that I love him, I always have.” Merlin said, while Morgana and Freya left for the car.

“You can tell him yourself Merlin, WHEN not if you get back.” Gwen said firmly.

“I wish I had your faith right now.” Merlin said wistfully.

“I know I have only known you a short time, but I do have faith in you, in all of you. I know it doesn’t look like it at the moment but this will all come right I just know it.” Gwen replied filling Merlin with more confidence than he knew he had.

If White-Lighters were meant to be guardian angels, Merlin could see why Gwen would be chosen. Not only did Gwen have a heart of gold she knew the right thing to say when it was needed the most.

“Have you got your Dark-Lighter potion?” Merlin asked. “Just in case.”

“Right here,” Gwen smiled, holding up a bottle.

“Right.” Merlin replied, relieved that Gwen wouldn’t be completely defenceless while they were out. It would be just their luck that Helios would attack while Gwen was left alone.

“It will be fine Merlin.” Gwen soothed, “Now go before they go without you.” Gwen said giving Merlin a quick peck on the cheek.

“Stay safe, Gwen.” Merlin blushed.

“You too, Merlin.”

They spent most of the short car ride to Camelot in silence, Merlin tried not to dwell on the loss of his powers but it was hard not to. A year ago their world was turned upside down and now it has been turned again and it still wasn’t the right way up.

The empty hole in his gut refused to settle it was churning and quivering away as if it was trying to expel itself or pull something back in. Merlin wondered if Freya and Morgana were feeling the same way.

Merlin glanced to the lantern on Freya’s lap, he could see the orbs floating around inside through the small window. He mostly saw his own golden orbs that were gathered around the window, almost as if they were trying to break out and return to him.

Merlin felt a longing for his magic pull at his chest and his stomach gave an extra roll in response.

They walked down the corridors to Camelot with the sense that they were walking to the gallows and to their deaths.

Morgause and Cenred were waiting for them at the end of the hall when they exited the elevator. Merlin clenched his jaw and tighten his fist around the several tiny bottles in his pockets when he saw the smug look on their faces. They stopped leaving several meters between the two groups.

“Well well well, how does it feel to be defeated.” Cenred crowed, “It’s been a long time coming, I can assure you that.”

“Let us not gloat until we have what we want Cenred.” Morgause snapped. Morgause took a couple of steps forward and reached out her hand, “The lantern if you please.”

Freya stepped forward and met her in the middle. Freya hesitated, fingering the lid of the lantern. Merlin heard Morgana draw in a sharp intake of breath to match his own. “Ah ah, don’t try anything foolish now.” Morgause simpered. Freya huffed before slowly handing over the lantern. “Thank you.” Morgause snapped as she snatched the lantern out of Frey’s hand. “Now you may gloat Cenred.”

Merlin glanced over to Cenred’s eyes locked on the book in Morgana’s arms. “I see you brought the famous Book of Shadows for us too.” Cenred said, “We will be taking that too.”

Morgana took a step back as Cenred moved forward, “You will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.” Morgana snapped.

“With pleasure.” Cenred smirked, lifting up his hand and moved it around until a fireball developed and grew in his hand.

“Now now Cenred,” Morgause started, placing her hand on his arm and forcing him to lower it. “We don’t want to damag-“

Merlin, Morgana and Freya all moved at the same time without any communication. While Cenred and Morgause were distracted with each other, they all took out their potions and threw them at the same time toward Morgause and Cenred.

There was a bright flash and a loud bang and then nothing. It was all over before any of them could think about moving. And nothing had changed.

“Is that the best you’ve got?” Morgause laughed, her shrill voice rang out down the corridor. “I knew you would try something, but I expected more than that.”

“And you three are supposed to be The Charmed Ones,” Cenred sneered.

“The Charmed Ones stopped by a simple crystal.” Morgause mocked.

Merlin frowned, “Crystal?”

“A shield crystal,” Morgause informed, pulling a necklace from under her blouse. The necklace had a small blackened crystal attached to it. “Of course this one was only good for one use, but one use was all I needed.” Morgause smirked.

“Now who’s gloating,” Cenred retorted.

“We need to get rid of their pesky White-Lighter.” Morgause said ignoring Cenred.

“Ha! We don’t have a White-Lighter.” Morgana blurted.

“Morgana!” Merlin hissed.

“Well we don’t.”

“They didn’t need to know that.” Freya growled.

“Oh.” Morgana replied dumbly, “Right, of course.”

“Wait you mean you don’t know?” Morgause called delighted.

“Know what?” Merlin asked.

“Oh this is going to be even better than I thought.” Morgause crowed.

“What are you going on about?” Freya snapped.

“You will see.” Morgause grinned. “Helios!” Morgause shouted.

Dozens of black orbs started to appear in between Morgause and Cenred. They all quickly gathered together to form the figure of Helios, who already had a cross bow in his hand. “Aim for Merlin first.” Morgause instructed. “Even if you miss the White-Lighter you will still get Merlin.”

Helios lowered his cross bow and aimed at Merlin. Merlin took a step back his heart beat racing, quickly looking around for anything he could possibly use to defend himself with, finding nothing he resigned himself to his fate and braced himself.

After that everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Helios pulled the trigger while at the same time bright white lights formed in front of Merlin, blinding him and blocking his view of the arrow and the Helios. Merlin lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the brightness.

Merlin stumbled backwards as a body was thrown into him. He automatically grabbed on the body whilst trying to blink the bright spots from his vision. His vision was then filled with blonde hair. Merlin shifted the body to get a closer look at what or who he was holding.

“A-Arthur?” Merlin said weakly, “What?....How?”

“I’m sorry Merlin,” Arthur panted, “I was going to tell you I swear.” He gasped. Arthur’s legs gave way sending them both crashing to the floor.

“But….” Merlin began, still holding onto Arthur “I don’t understand.”

“I’m your White-Lighter.” Arthur wheezed out, his breathing fast and shallow. The colour drained out of Arthur’s face and beads of sweat gathered on his brow.

Merlin looked down and found an arrow sticking out of Arthur’s shoulder. A Dark-Lighter arrow. A Dark-Lighter arrow that was supposed to be lethal to White-Lighters, Merlin remembered.

“N-No.” Merlin stuttered. “No no no no no.”

Merlin was distantly aware of Morgause and Cenred laughing in the back ground. “White-Lighters are so predictable.” Merlin heard as if from under water.

“I’m sorry, Merlin,” Arthur panted.

Merlin looked into Arthur’s eyes and saw guilt and sorrow but most of all pain. “No” Merlin repeated shaking his head. Arthur can’t die, not Arthur.

Merlin snapped his head up to Morgause, Cenred and Helios. “Once your precious little White-Lighter is dead, Guinevere will be mine for the taking.” Helios smirked.

“No.” Merlin said firmly, anger building from the pit of his stomach. Merlin felt something snap inside him as the anger grew, but he didn’t care.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Merlin screamed. Merlin felt a warmth flash into his eyes and all three demons were thrown harshly against the far wall.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

With the next warm flash the demons burst into flames, their screams echoing throughout the floor. A warmth cupped his cheek. “Merlin.”

Merlin looked back down to Arthur, lifting his hand to Arthur’s, pressing his cheek into the warmth.

“No, you can’t die, Arthur. I need you.”

“I’m sorry Merlin.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that this took so long to write, but I really struggled to find the enthusiasm and motivation to write this. So special thanks to Triquetra123 on ff.net for giving me the encouragement and support I needed to write this.
> 
> I originally thought this chapter would be a small one, but once I finally did get into writing it, it ran away with me and has turned out to be one of my longest chapters yet. But hey you can never have too much Merlin and Arthur. :)
> 
> Enjoy xxx

“Arthur?”

“I’m sorry Merlin.”

“But…you….you’re a….”

“I’m so sorry.” Arthur nodded trying to convey his regret as much as possible.

“Merlin how did you do that? We don’t have our powers and yet you….” Freya asked.

“You are not a normal witch Merlin,” Arthur gasped cutting Freya off “You are a Warlock, magic is part of who you are and you can never give that up even if you wanted to.”

“But how?” Merlin asked. He didn’t care about his powers, he cared about Arthur. Arthur who had lied to him, who had been spying on them. Arthur who was now dying in his arms after saving his life. ‘Again!’ Merlin thought, as he recalled the number of times he had seen bright white lights over the last few weeks. No, months! He remembered the time on the stair well when they had first got their powers. The angel he saw did look a lot like Arthur. Arthur has been there from the very beginning, spying on them, lying to them, saving them. Just how many times had Arthur saved his life? Merlin couldn’t help but feel a little awed.

This is not the time for this, Merlin scolded himself. First he needed to make sure Arthur survived before he could interrogate and shout at him. And Arthur would survive. The idea that Arthur would die was impossible, despite the pain and betrayal he felt, his life without Arthur was unthinkable.

“Bring me the book, quickly,” Arthur gasped. “Before I’m too weak.” Merlin tightened his hold on Arthur bringing him closer to his body, fearing Arthur would try and get up.

Morgana quickly hurried to Arthur’s side with the book while Freya went to retrieve the lantern from the ashes of the demons.

“Open it.” Arthur ordered. Morgana didn’t hesitate, she quickly dropped down to her knees and held the book open in her arms as close to Arthur as she could get.

“Morgana!” Freya chided, returning with the lantern.

“What?” Morgana snapped, “It’s already blank, he can hardly make it any worse. And besides he is a White-Lighter, he is one of the good guys.” Freya opened her mouth to reply then closed it quickly again, deciding to chew on her bottom lip instead.

Arthur lifted his free arm and hovered his trembling hand over the book. A soft white flickered beneath Arthur’s palm before it went out.

“Arthur, it’s okay save your strength.” Merlin said gently.

“No.” Arthur said, taking a deep breath and focusing his eyes determinedly on the book, “I can do it.” He ground out, steading his hand.

A small white light appeared under his hand again, this time it remained and gradually grew in size and brightness. The light slowly encompassed the book and the pages of the book gently turned over gaining in speed, much like it did when they relinquished their powers. The lantern in Freya’s hand started to shake and rattle until she dropped it and the power orbs burst out gathering over the book above Arthur’s hand. The white and gold orbs spun around gently for a moment before they separated and moved to hover over the heads of each of The Charmed Ones. Merlin looked up as his own golden orbs hovered above his head for a moment before they gently sank back into his body, giving him and the girls a radiant glow.

The queasiness in his stomach finally settled but the terror in his heart remained.

Merlin looked back down as the light began to fade away from them and the book, leaving behind the familiar writing on the pages.

Then Arthur went limp in his arms.

“Arthur?” Merlin asked giving Arthur a gentle shake, trying to ignore the dread in the pit of his stomach. Arthur cannot be dead, he can’t!

“Arthur, please wake up.” Merlin cried, hugging Arthur as close to him as he possibly could.

Morgana reached over and placed her fingers on Arthur’s neck to check his pulse. “He is still alive, but he is weak.”

“Merlin,” Morgana said firmly, when Merlin didn’t reply. “We need to get him back to the house.” Morgana shifted so that she could help Merlin lift Arthur, though Merlin still didn’t move from his frozen position on the floor.

“And then what? Dark-Lighters poison is lethal to White-Lighters.” Merlin said taking a deep shuddering breath. “I can’t lose him Morgana.”

“I know Merlin, we will figure something out, but we can’t do it here.”

Freya reached over to wipe a tear from his cheek. Merlin hadn’t even realised he was crying. “We have to move Merlin.” Freya encouraged gently. “We can’t help him here.”

“Okay.” Merlin nodded.

Both Merlin and Morgana hooked one of Arthur’s arms over their shoulders and between them they managed to get him upright. Being extra careful not the jostle the arrow that had pierced straight thought Arthur’s shoulder. Freya ran ahead to open the lift for them and held the doors open for them while they manoeuvred Arthur into the lift.

Getting Arthur into the car was tricky with him being unconscious but between the three of them and a little help from Freya’s reinstated powers they managed to get Arthur lying across the back seat with his head on Merlin’s lap, who proceeded to comb his fingers through Arthur’s hair.

Merlin’s mind was in a state of turmoil. There was so much to think about but his mind couldn’t focus on a single thought that wasn’t Arthur. Who exactly was Arthur? Why did he lie? Was everything a lie? Where their feelings a lie? How long had Arthur known about them? How much did he know? But most importantly how where they going to help Arthur?

The book had said that Dark-Lighter poison was lethal to White-Lighters and they didn’t know any other White-Lighters. Merlin wasn’t even sure they could even help with Dark-Lighter poison. And none of them had any medical knowledge. Merlin was certain that that wouldn’t help them anyway against the supernatural. What were they going to do?

The car journey back to the house was silent, not that Merlin noticed. Merlin barely noticed the journey at all. One moment they were getting into the car, the next they were pulling into the drive way with Gwen running out to meet them.

“Your back!” Gwen squeaked “And you’re alive! Not that I doubted you for a moment of course, I knew you would be ok but I was…oh...” Gwen trailed off when she saw Arthur unconscious in the car. “What happened? Is he okay?”

“Help us get him upstairs would you?” Morgana asked, not answering her questions.

“Of course!” Gwen exclaimed, rushing forward to help.

They got Arthur settled on the large sofa in the attic. Arthur had now lost all colour, looking extremely pale making dark rings around his eyes stand out and was covered in a fine layer of sweat. Merlin placed the back of his hand on Arthur’s forehead only to find that he was burning up.

“He is burning up.” Merlin muttered, “We need cold water, cloth and as many bandages as we can find, we need to get this arrow out.” Merlin said to no one in particular.

“I will get them.” Freya shouted before dashing off to find what they needed.

“He is going to be alright isn’t he?” Merlin heard Gwen ask.

“I don’t know Gwen.” Morgana replied shaking her head, “Arthur is a White-Lighter and he was hit with a Dark-Lighter poisoned arrow.”

“Helios?”

“Yes, but don’t worry, he is gone now, Merlin killed him.”

“He’s gone?” Gwen sighed in relief.

“It’s over.” Morgana agreed. “You don’t seem too surprised to find out that Arthur is a White-Lighter.”

“She knew.” Merlin replied, knowing he was speaking the truth.

“You knew?” Morgana snapped at a blushing Gwen, “And you didn’t tell us.”

“He made me promise not to. He said something about rules and how he wasn’t allowed. Said he would get into trouble.” Gwen explained, shifting from one foot to another. “I’m sorry, I should have told you.”

“No it’s okay Gwen.” Merlin replied, “Arthur should have told us not you.”

“I got everything I could find,” Freya announced sweeping back into the room with her hands full.

Merlin immediately moved to help taking the water and dunking a cloth in and started to wipe at Arthur’s head and neck, while the others sorted through the rest.

“The first thing we need to do is to remove the arrow.” Freya said. “Merlin help me sit him up so I can get to his back.”

Merlin sat next to Arthur on the couch and placed his hands under his arms and lifted Arthur towards him resting his head on Merlin’s shoulder and exposing his back to Freya and Morgana.

“It’s a good thing he is unconscious otherwise this would hurt.” Freya said before snapping the arrow head from the arrow.

Morgana quickly moved around to grab the shaft of the arrow. “Hold him tight Merlin.” She warned before pulling hard on the arrow. Arthur jerked in his arms with a groan.

The pain was enough to bring Arthur round for a moment, “Merlin…” Merlin heard Arthur whisper in his ear before he surrendered to unconsciousness once again.

As soon as the arrow was free, blood bloomed over Arthur’s shoulder soaking his shirt. “We need to get his t-shirt off.” Morgana said as she was already lifting his t-shirt up. Both Freya and Morgana manhandled Arthur out of his t-shirt off while Merlin held he steady.

If the girls noticed the small bruises around Arthur’s collar bone and chest, they chose not to mention it, for now. Merlin had no doubt the teasing would start as soon as all this was over.

“We need to keep pressure on the wounds until the bleeding stops.” Gwen said as she swooped in armed with bandages. “Once the bleeding stops we can wash and dress the wounds, we need to keep them clean.”

“And the poison?” Merlin asked, hoping she would have the answer to that too.

“I don’t know Merlin, I’m sorry I only know basic first aid.” Gwen replied.

It didn’t take long for the bleeding to stop as the wounds themselves were quiet small. Once his wounds were cleaned and dressed and they had put a clean top on him, Merlin gently laid Arthur back down on the sofa and covered him with a blanket before picking up the cold wet cloth and started to wipe every bit of skin he could get at.

“According to the book White-Lighters have the ability to heal,” Morgana stated, “Does that mean Arthur has the ability to heal?” Directing her question at Gwen.

“Yes.” Both Gwen and Merlin replied at the same time.

“How do you know Merlin? You only just found out he was a White-Lighter.” Freya asked.

“He healed me once.” Merlin replied whilst continuing his efforts with the cloth, refusing to take his eyes off Arthur. He was scared that Arthur would die on him if he left his line of sight even for a moment.

“What? When?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because I didn’t know, I didn’t know it was Arthur.” Merlin huffed when the girls remained silent fully excepting him to explain further. “Do you remember that demon from the future?”

“Yes, of course.”

“How could we forget?”

“Well when we vanquished him on the stair well, I was blown down the stairs in the blast. I hit my head, hit it really bad, along with several other places, pretty sure I broke my back too. Arthur came to me, I didn’t recognise him, all I saw were bright lights, blonde hair and blue eyes before I passed out. When I woke up I was perfectly fine. I convinced myself that I had imagined it, a result of hitting my head. But now when I look back, I know it was him, he healed me, saved me, again.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Freya asked gently.

Merlin rolled his eyes, “Please, you both would have teased me until the end of time.” Merlin replied not unkindly.

“No we wouldn’t.” Freya jumped in quickly.

“Yes we would,” Morgana chuckled, “We both would have, no point denying it. Maybe not until the end of time, but we, or at least I would have dragged it out for a good month and bring it back when you least expect it.” Morgana laughed prompting a flash of a smile from Merlin.

“What we need is someone with the ability to heal.” Freya said.

“I don’t suppose you have that in your new bag of tricks Merlin?” Morgana asked.

“Yeah, what was with that anyway? How did you manage to use magic after we had given up our powers?”

Merlin shook his head, “I don’t know. Before he passed out Arthur said something about me being a Warlock and that magic is part of who I am. I will ask him about it when,” Not if, “when he wakes up.”

“Does this mean I’m evil?” Merlin asked quietly. All the Warlocks they had meet so far were evil, granted they had met all kinds of demons, but a few of them were Warlocks and the idea that he could turn bad did not sit well with him at all.

“What NO! of course not.” Freya shouted.

“There is not an evil bone in your body Merlin.” Gwen replied.

“Just because we have met one or two evil Warlocks doesn’t mean they are all bad.” Morgana explained. “Warlocks are creatures of magic, at least that’s what the book says, you can get both good and bad ones just like humans. They are not all good or all bad they are both.”

“What else does the book say?”

“Not much really, just that Warlocks are rare and powerful.” Morgana shrugged.

“Morgana, you know the book best, is there anything in there that can help? Anything at all?” Merlin begged, trying to get them back on track. Arthur’s breathing was getting shallower they didn’t have time for chit chat or debating his powers.

“I have been thinking about that.” Morgana sighed.

“And.”

“Aaaand, there is a spell that could help, but it’s a long shot and very risky.” She admitted.

“I don’t care. What is it?”

“It’s a power switching spell.”

“A power switching spell?” Merlin frowned, until it clicked and his face lit up with hope. “I can switch my powers with Arthur’s and use Arthur’s healing ability’s to heal him.” He exclaimed, “That will work.”

Morgana picked up the book from the table and used her powers to find the right page. “There is a risk Merlin, it doesn’t say how to reverse it.”

“I don’t care, the risk is worth it. Besides surely to reverse it you just say the same spell again.” He replied already reaching for the book.

“Merlin,” Freya cautioned. “I know you don’t want to hear this but what if Arthur dies and he still has your powers. Will you be able to switch them back then?”

“I don’t care, Arthur is worth it.”

“Merlin…”

“If it was Will lying here would you take the risk?” Merlin snapped.

Freya hesitated a moment before nodding her head, “Yeah I would, without a thought.”

“Then I’m doing it.” Merlin said pulling the book closer.

“Right well I think it would be best if we left the room.” Freya said. “We don’t want to risk the spell affecting us all like the truth spell did.”

“Leaving the house might be safer.” Morgana agreed. “What about Gwen?”

“I don’t have any powers to get mixed up with.” Gwen replied.

“I think it might be best if Merlin does this alone.” Freya said gently. Merlin snapped with head up with surprise. He did want to do this alone, he wanted to be alone with Arthur. He was surprised that Freya sensed that, he didn’t think she liked Arthur much.

“If this was me and Will, I would want to do this alone.” Freya explained. “I know you think I don’t like Arthur, but I do Merlin. I just wasn’t comfortable with him hiding something from us. I’ll admit I didn’t trust him, but now we know he is on our side.”

“So now you trust him?”

“He has earned it.” Freya said simply.

“Thank you.” Merlin replied gratefully.

“We will be back in an hour or so to check on you both.” Freya answered. “Come on you two, let’s leave the boys too it.”

Merlin fussed over Arthur’s blankets for a few moments after the girls left in order to build up his courage. This had to work, it was going to work, it was all they had. There was no way Arthur could die, expect what if he did? What is he lost him?

‘No’ Merlin scowled himself again, this was going to there were no if’s or but’s about it.

Merlin pulled the book on to his lap and looked down at the spell, he quickly memorised the words, it was actually a very simple spell. Taking one last deep breath, he began to recite the spell. He hoped that the constant shifting of powers would not have any damaging effects, at least not until he had healed Arthur.

 

_What’s mine is yours._

_What’s yours is mine._

_Let our powers cross the line._

_I offer up my gifts to share._

_Switch the powers through the air._

 

The now familiar golden orbs raised once more out of Merlin, while pearly white orbs raised from Arthur. Instead of his orbs crossing over to Arthur like Merlin expected, both his and Arthur’s orbs gathered together above them both and entwined together. It was like they were greeting each other, as if they were happy to be together. It was nothing like what had happened earlier when they resigned their powers, this made that look mechanical and violent. This was truly magical, it was stunning, like a graceful dance. Their orbs actually touched each other almost forming a sphere, he could even feel warmth radiating from them. Merlin had to resist the temptation to reach out and touch. The colours blead into to each other, his own orbs taking on a pearly shine while Arthur’s took on a golden tint. Merlin was mesmerised by the display until the orbs regretfully separated and Merlin’s orbs settled into Arthur while Arthur’s settled into him.

Merlin gasped for breath not realising he had been holding his breath, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn’t get much chance to think about what had just happened and what it meant as a wheezy gasp drew his attention back to Arthur.

If it hadn’t been for that display he wouldn’t have known that the spell had worked, he didn’t feel any different. He felt just as he always did.

He gently put his hand on Arthur’s chest just on top of the wound and willed everything he had into Arthur. Eyes fixed on Arthur’s face looking for any sign of improvement.

Nothing happened.

Merlin squeezed his eyes shut and tried again.

Still nothing.

He had hoped that he would be able to just place his hand in the right place and that it would just work. He should have known it would not be that simple.

Merlin remembered when he first got his powers, he had to find a trigger to make his powers work. So maybe he just needed to find Arthur’s trigger. Trouble is he had no idea what that could be. And he was running out of time. Arthur was getting worse by the minute, his breathing was slow and painfully shallow.

Merlin pressed down a little harder and tried again. “Come on!” he shouted, when nothing happened. Arthur didn’t even flinch.

“Come on Arthur! Heal damn you!” Merlin shouted, pressing down hard with his hand. He didn’t know what else to do.

“Please.” Merlin begged.

At a loss of anything else to do Merlin bent down and buried his head in the crook of Arthur’s shoulder, “Please Arthur.” Breathing in the scent of Arthur for what could be the last time. “Please Arthur don’t leave me.” He sobbed.

The thought of never seeing Arthur again made his heart break. “You can’t go, Arthur.” The thought of never seeing Arthur’s blue eyes again, never seeing him smile or laugh again, never feeling the warmth of his skin again. “Please Arthur you can’t die, I need you. I…I love you!” The idea that Arthur would never know because he had never been able to admit the words out loud before made his heart hurt even more. His heart hurt so much the pain was physical, his chest physically hurt, like all his breath was being squeezed out and his heart was going through a grinder.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.” Merlin sobbed. It was like a damn had broken, he had always struggled saying the words he knew to be true, but now he couldn’t stop. “I love you Arthur, don’t leave me. Please just wake up and tell me how to do this. I love you, I need you.”

Merlin’s hand started to heat up, getting incredibly warm. Merlin snapped his head up to see a golden light under his hand, getting bigger and stronger. The light soon encompassed the whole of Arthur’s chest. Merlin’s eyes flicked to Arthur’s face watching for any sign of anything. Slowly colour started to bleed back into Arthur’s face. “Yes!” The dark rings around his eyes faded away. “That’s your trigger? Love?” Merlin beamed. “In that case I love you, I love you, I love you.” Merlin felt like singing it, especially when Arthur opened his eyes just before the light faded away.

Merlin bent his face down so close to Arthur that their noses were almost touching and looked him straight in the eye. “I love you.” Merlin repeated firmly.

“I love you too.” Arthur’s voice quiet but strong. Merlin smiled, unable and unwilling to stop himself from grinning like the Cheshire cat, even when he closed the gap between them and kissed him.

 

****

 

Arthur woke to see Merlin using very similar powers to his own, expect Merlin’s light was golden, and even though he knew it could have been a reflection he swore that Merlin’s eyes were golden too.

But then merlin spoke all thoughts about golden lights and golden eyes were lost. “I love you too.” Arthur said, impressed with how strong his voice sounded.

And then Merlin leaned forward and kissed him. Arthur didn’t think he would get a chance to do this again after his lies were exposed, that made the kiss even sweeter. Arthur could have remained attached to Merlin’s lips forever, but unfortunately the need to breath made itself apparent so he reluctantly pulled away.

“How?” Arthur asked not needed to clarify his question.

“I switched our powers.” Merlin replied, like it was the most obvious solution in the world.

“You…you switched our powers?” Of course Merlin did something drastic like that, but then it was a drastic situation. Arthur briefly considered the fact the he was probably the first White-Lighter to survive the Dark-Lighters poison.

“Yep,” Merlin beamed, “You should have seen it Arthur, at the risk of sounding like a girl, it was beautiful. Easily the most stunning thing I have ever seen.

“Such a girl, Merlin.” Arthur agreed fondly.

“You will see it when I switch them back. Let’s see you find a better word for it.”

“Are you not mad at me?” Arthur asked, unable to overlook the elephant in the room any longer.

“Of course I am. I am so pissed at you Arthur, I’m just more relieved that you are alive at the moment. But I am more than pissed Arthur, you hurt me. While you clearly knew everything about us you clearly didn’t trust me enough to tell me about you.”

“No, no, no, Merlin. It wasn’t about trust. I do trust you, I trust you with my life.” Arthur said quickly. Grabbing onto his hand and squeezing.

“Just not with your secrets.” Merlin said firmly.

“No Merlin.” Arthur said as he began to struggle to sit up until Merlin pushed him gently back down.

“Stay there Arthur, you are not strong enough yet. You may be healed but you to need to rest for a bit.”

“I’m fine, Merlin.” He insisted but laid down anyway. “It was not about trust.” Arthur repeated unwilling to get side-tracked. “I was under explicit orders not to tell you and I was already breaking the rules, I didn’t want to break any more rules, I’m going to be in enough trouble as it is.”

“What rules have you broken?”

“White-Lighters are not allowed to be involved with Witches or Warlocks or any of their charges.”

“What?”

“It’s forbidden. Normally they do make exceptions for soul mates but they have never made an exception like this before.” Arthur explained.

“Soul mates?” Merlin asked with a hint of a blush.

“Don’t tell me you don’t feel it too Merlin?” Arthur asked suddenly unsure of himself. “I was drawn to you the moment I met you and I could not keep myself away, I couldn’t stop myself. You are the part of me that I didn’t even realise I was missing, you make me whole. And now that I have you there is no way I could let you go.”

“How do I know this isn’t another lie? How do I know you didn’t fake this whole relationship just to get closer to us?”

“You know that’s not true Merlin.” Arthur said, sitting up regardless of Merlin’s objections. He grabbed the back of Merlin’s neck with one hand while cupping his face with the other. “Look me in the eye and tell me that’s what you truly believe. Tell me you genuinely believe I feel nothing for you.”

Merlin looked him in the eye, and Arthur had to repress a shudder, it was as if Merlin was staring deep into his soul.

“I can’t.” Merlin whispered shaking his head as much as he could in the confines of his hands. “I know you feel something for me, I just don’t know what or how strong.”

“I am truly and madly in love with you Merlin. I know I should have said this before but it just didn’t feel right with so many secrets between us. But now those secrets are gone and everything is out and in the open I have no trouble with telling you how much I love you.”

“I love you too Arthur, so much. I thought I was going to die along with you.” Merlin admitted, melting into Arthur’s arms.

“I’m so sorry I lied Merlin, but it was necessary at the time.” Arthur said, wrapping his arms around Merlin, “You have no idea how much I hated it.”

“I don’t like it, but I understand. I lied too.” Merlin huffed into Arthur’s neck.

“And I understand why Merlin.” Arthur replied with a squeeze, planting a kiss on Merlin’s temple. “Are we good?”

“We’re good.” Merlin nodded. “So what kind of trouble are you in? And with who?” Merlin asked pulling away to see Arthur better.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Arthur sighed, “I know it will be bad. They will try and keep me away from you, they may even clip my wings.”

“Wings? Do you have actual wings?” Merlin asked with a smirk.

“No Merlin,” He smiled with relief, rolling his eyes. That had not been as bad as he thought it would. Kilgharrah was right, a half can never hate that which makes it whole. “It’s a figure of speech.”

“So what would clipping your wings mean?” Merlin asked concerned.

“It means taking away all my powers. Making me human.”

“But we would still be together.”

Arthur shook his head, “They would take away all my memories too. I would be human with no clue who I am.”

“What!” Merlin cried outraged, “They can’t do that.”

“They can. They have. I have seen them do it before when someone broke the rules.” Arthur said, remembering the last time a White-Lighter got involved with a witch. The White-Lighter in question had disappeared after that, never to be heard from again. But they weren’t soul mates. He was hoping that that fact might be enough to sway them.

“Well maybe they don’t know, who are they anyway?” Merlin asked repeating the earlier question.

“The Elders.” Arthur explained. “They watch over us and guide us. They assign me my charges, they are my bosses.”

“Are they God?”

“No,” Arthur laughed, “Gwen asked that same question.”

“So you told Gwen your secret.” Merlin stated frowning.

“I’m sorry Merlin but I my orders were not to let the Charmed Ones know.” Arthur said, becoming serious again.

“Why?”

“I’m not sure,” Arthur shook his head, “You are going to be extremely powerful Merlin, and they are…” He paused searching for the correct word to describe it. “Not frightened of you but they are definitely intimidated by you. They think the longer you remain unaware of their existence the better.” Arthur did actually think that frightened was the right word, even though Kilgharrah insists otherwise.

“Intimidated? By me?” Merlin asked shocked.

“Yes. They think that you will eventually have the power to go up there on your own free will. No one has been able to do that before. They are intimidated by that.”

“Well that’s just stupid.” Merlin huffed.

“I know,” Arthur smiled fondly.

“So they just left us to fend for ourselves knowing we didn’t have a clue what we were doing?” Merlin asked.

“Trust me I have had this argument with them several times.”

Merlin’s shoulders sagged, defeated, Arthur hated seeing that look on him but he vowed to tell the truth about everything “Maybe they don’t know.” Merlin repeated.

“They were already suspicious of our relationship. Given recent events I doubt they will have missed it.” He scoffed. Knowing full well that the Elders will certainly know everything by now.

“Wait. When you say ‘watch over us’ do you mean they literally watch us?”

“If they chose too, yes.” Arthur said, unable to see where this was going.

“They can look down on us anytime they want and watch us?” Merlin asked with a look of horror.

“Pretty much yeah, but they don’t do if often. They are above the pettiness of human lives.” Arthur said, remembering when he offended the Elders with the same question shortly after becoming a White-Lighter.

This was clearly the wrong thing to say when Merlin’s horror increased. “So they can watch us when we are…when we…when we are in our bedroom?”

Arthur couldn’t help but grin when Merlin said ‘our’ and not ‘my’. “No Merlin, they don’t watch us having sex.” Arthur replied with a soft laugh.

“But they could. After all they won’t know we are having sex until they look.”

“Yes but they don’t generally go round looking into people’s bedrooms Merlin, they respect privacy.” Arthur said trying to act scandalised, he was pretty sure the Elders would be scandalised too.

“But they could if they wanted too.” Merlin persisted.

“Yes, if they wanted to they could.” Arthur admitted, “But they wouldn’t, they are above all that physical stuff.”

“They don’t have sex?!” Merlin exclaimed.

“Not really something I wish to think about Merlin, most of them are really old.” He replied looking and feeling rather disgusted by the creepy thought.

“Are you two decent?” Morgana shouted from the closed attic door.

“Yes you are safe!” Merlin shouted back. “It’s not like we are ever going to have sex outside the bedroom again.” Merlin mumbled, as the door creeped open.

Arthur groaned, “Honestly Merlin you are being paranoid.” Arthur said quietly so that Morgana and Freya couldn’t hear.

“Arthur!” Morgana exclaimed, “We knew you would be okay, but it’s good to see you up and looking much healthier.”

“How did you know he was going to okay? I didn’t know he was going to be okay.” Merlin asked.

“Because we know you Merlin.” Freya smiled.

“I guess I owe you two an explanation too.” Arthur winced. “I am sorry for everything.”

Morgana waved her hand in order to dismiss it. “It’s fine, we get it. We had Gwen tell us everything you told her so we understand. Plus we weren’t exactly forthcoming either, so we are all to blame really.”

“Where is Gwen anyway?” Merlin asked.

“Oh, we bumped into Lance while we were out so now they are getting coffee. Now that Helios has been taken care off she can move about much more freely. And I suspect her and Lance are going to be doing a lot moving.” Morgana said with a smirk.

“We do have some questions about that, by the way. How was Merlin able to defeat Helios and the others when he had no magic?” Freya asked.

Merlin’s face snapped to Arthur’s silently asking the same question.

“Merlin is a Warlock not a witch. He is made of magic, he can never give it up.”

“But I wasn’t able to do magic when we gave them up, why could I then?” Merlin asked.

“Giving your powers up like that will have ripped some magic out of you, but you can never truly give them up. You would be dead if you managed to give up your magic completely, you need it like you need air.” Arthur neglected to mention that most Warlock’s were immortal but that was a conversation for just the two of them. “Your powers and your magic are linked to your emotions, panic, shock, stress has always been your trigger, and because Helios and the others were stronger maybe you needed something more than panic to trigger your magic, something close to terror.”

“Anger.” Merlin inputted. “I was angry that they had hurt you and that they were going to hurt Freya and Morgana too.”

“And you.” Morgana added.

Merlin shook his head, “I wasn’t thinking of myself, it was mainly Arthur.”

“Anger would have done it.” Arthur agreed.

“Okay if Merlin is made of magic, shouldn’t he have always been able to do magic? We only got our powers last year. None of were able to magic before then including Merlin.” Freya asked.

“You have always had the ability to do magic.” Arthur said, “You were born with your magic. We are not sure why you only got your powers last year. It is as if they were locked away until something happened to unlock them.”

“Morgana said a spell from the book,” Merlin explained, “That is when we got our powers.”

“Then they were locked away.” Arthur nodded. “The thing is they won’t have locked themselves away on their own. Someone has done that to you. The question is who? And why?”

“Gaius.” All three Charmed Ones said simultaneously.

“But why?” Freya added.

“I don’t know. It’s not as if we can ask him.” Merlin said.

“When I get up there I will kill all over again.” Morgana huffed.

“Can we switch our powers back now?” Merlin asked. “I’m starting to feel a little funny and I don’t like it.”

Arthur had to admit he was feeling strange too, but he didn’t think it had anything to do with their powers. If he had to describe it, he would say he was being drawn away, as if something was urging to leave the room and go somewhere else, he just didn’t know where or why.

“Sure.” Arthur agreed, it was something that needed to be done anyway and he was eager to see what Merlin had described, not that he would admit that out loud.

Merlin was right the display was absolutely stunning, he had never seen anything like it before. He was surprised to see that his orbs were no longer pearly white, they now had a tint of gold in them. He hoped that when he orbed the tint of gold would be visible, it would be the evidence he needed that they were soul mates.

Both girls looked like they were wind swept once the display was over. “Damn, I wish I had my camera for that.” Morgana said once she caught her breath back.

The pull that he was feeling before only intensified once their powers were in the right place. “Do you feel that?” Arthur asked wondering if he was feeling the same.

“Feel what?” Freya asked, as Merlin nodded.

“It feels like something is pulling me out the room and down the hall, and I really need to go to it now. Is that what you are feeling?” Merlin asked.

“Yeah, it’s stronger now that our powers are back.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.” Arthur admitted.

“What do we do?”

“Follow it.” Morgana suggested with a shrug.

“What?” Freya said. “But they don’t know what it is,”

“They are not going to find out sitting in here.”

Arthur threw off the blanket and started to stand, dislodging Merlin in the process. “Are you sure you’re strong enough Arthur?”

“I’m fine merlin.” Arthur grinned, reaching his hand down to help Merlin up. He felt strong, really strong, like together they could face anything.

 

***

 

Hand in hand they strode towards the doorway with Freya and Morgana trailing closely behind. Once they were out of the attic and down the stairs that lead to the second floor where the attic was, he immediately felt the pull tugging him down the hallway. “Freya’s room.” Merlin stated, and immediately headed to the door.

“My room? But what could possibly be drawing you to my room?” Freya asked surprised.

Marching into Freya’s room, Merlin let go of Arthur’s hand and dashed towards her dresser and pulled out the bottom draw.

“The Triskelion!” Merlin and Arthur said at the same time.

The Triskelion sat at the bottom of the draw, expect now it was humming and Merlin was certain he could detect a slight glow from it. ‘Mine’ Merlin thought as he instantly reached out to touch it. “Merlin wait!” Freya exclaimed, too late, he was already lifting it out of the draw.

The humming increased, the Triskelion was now vibrating making the runes blur slightly. “Why did you hide it?” Merlin asked Freya, surprised to find it there and feeling very protective of it. He hadn’t known exactly what the girls had done with the Triskelion, he would have thought it would be in the attic with all the rest of their magical equipment. Not tucked away in Freya’s room.

“I wasn’t hiding it from you. I was hiding it from Morgause and Cenred. They had already managed to get into the house once without us knowing, I didn’t want to make it easy for them in case they came back for it.” she explained.

“You can ward the house against that.” Arthur almost dismissively, his eyes too were locked on the Triskelion.

“You can?” Morgana asked, “How come we didn’t know that?”

“I will show you how, you use crystals.” Arthur said distractedly as he went to Merlin’s side. The urge to reach out and touch the Triskelion was almost overwhelming. “Your Dragonlord gene is active.”

“My Dragonlord gene? So I am a Dragonlord then? We did suspect that, but the book says it’s passed down from father to son and we didn’t know if dad was or not.” Merlin rambled.

“Your father was a Dragonlord,” Arthur confirmed, “But he probably didn’t know it, the gene has been dormant for thousands of years. Your entire family line have been Dragonlords, on the male side at least, it’s never really been active before.”

“Wow you know more about us than we do.” Morgana grumped.

“We translated the runes it say’s ‘When two halves become whole, I will show you the way’” Freya said, ignoring Morgana’s comment, “But we don’t know what that means.”

“Well the two halves bit is me and Merlin,” Arthur informed, “We are soul mates, two halves of a whole, and apparently with Merlin and I together we are whole and the gene activated.”

“But we have been together for a while,” Merlin thought out loud, “Why has it only activated now?”

“Erm…because we have only just confessed our feelings.” Arthur replied, a hint of a blush made its way onto Arthur’s cheeks and Merlin suspected there was more to it than that, he will have to ask about it when they don’t have an audience.

“How do you know all this?” Freya asked.

“I asked the Elders about it, or rather my Elder, the others don’t know we are soul mates yet.” Arthur answered with his eyes constantly flicking between the girls and Triskelion, clearly not wanting to let it out of his sight but not wanting to be rude either.

“Who is your Elder?” Merlin enquired.

“Kilgharrah. He is my mentor, he has helped me an awful lot over the years.”

“How long have you been a White-Lighter?” Morgana asked.

“About seventy-five years, give or take a few.”

“What will this show us the way too?” Merlin asked, trying to get them back to the issue at hand.

“We don’t know,” Arthur admitted. “All we know is that it is connected to dragons, but dragons have been extinct for thousands of years.”

“Okay, how do we make it show us to whatever it wants to show us to?”

“Again we don’t know.” Arthur answered, raising his hand towards the Triskelion then dropping it when he changed his mind.

“Touch it.” Merlin said offering one of the legs to Arthur, “If it needs two halves of a whole then maybe we both need to touch it.” Merlin said knowing in his gut he was right.

“Merlin I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” Freya interjected.

But Arthur’s hand was already inches away.

As soon as Arthur touched the Triskelion the humming got louder, it sounded like it was purring, and the vibrating got stronger, not so much that they had to struggle to hold but enough to make Merlin’s hand tingle. The glowing intensified and rippled up and down each leg until it gathered and settled in the middle.

A beam of light shot up from the middle above all their heads. The beam widened and an image started to slowly form in the light. It was a building. A building of a tall tower, Merlin identified as the image got clearer. Judging from the trees surrounding the tower it was the size of a small sky scraper. The image held for a moment before zooming in to the centre of the tower. The image zoomed in through the walls and into a massive dark room that was easily the width of the tower. In the middle of the dark room was a small pale blue light. The simmering blue light was hovering in the centre of the room, unfortunately the image didn’t zoom in any further to identify what the blue light meant, but Merlin knew that that was their destination.

“I know where that is.” Arthur blurted.

“You have been there before? Do you know what that light is?”

“Never.” Arthur said shaking his head. “I’m not sure how I know it, it just do. I think the Triskelion is telling me, I could probably orb us directly into that room.”

“And the blue light?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wait orb us?” Merlin asked.

“Yes, Arthur smirked, “I can carry one person or two little ones.”

“Handy.” Merlin smiled.

“Wait a minute before you two go running off.” Freya snapped.

“Orb off.” Morgana corrected.

“This Triskelion is thousands of years old, the image could also be thousands of years old. Who knows what’s there anymore.” Freya reasoned.

“Everything happens for a reason.” Arthur consoled, “Merlin found the Triskelion at this time for a reason, he awakened his dormant gene at this time for a reason, that they both happened at the same time, for a reason.” Arthur explained, looking at the image still floating above them. “We were meant to find this now for a reason and that reason is in that room.”

“At least wait until morning, it’s getting really late and you two are pretty exhausted.” Morgana tried.

“But that is why now is better. If there is anything or anyone there, their guard will down, they may even be sleeping. Besides Arthur can always orb us out if we get into trouble.” Merlin added. “Right?” He thought he probably should have checked that first. Not that it would have made a difference, he was going for that blue light no matter what. He had too.

“Right.” Arthur agreed, with a grin.

“See, we will be straight in and straight out and will be back before you know it.” Merlin soothed, but couldn’t keep the responding grin from his face. He was excited about him and Arthur doing this together, he no longer had to hide anything or lie. He knew he hated keeping a part of himself hidden but he hadn’t realise just how much it had been weighing him down until now. He felt free, now that Arthur knew everything, he was almost giddy with the relief. And now they were working together. A Warlock and White-Lighter, he felt like there was no way they could fail. They were going to do this together and everything was going to work out, he just knew it.

Something must have shown on both their faces about how determined they were, as Freya eventually huffed “Fine, but don’t come crying to me when you get yourselves killed.”

“That didn’t even make sense.” Merlin laughed.

“Yeah well, neither do you.” Freya huffed again crossing her arms over her chest. “But please be careful.” She added with more concern.

“Don’t worry Freya we will.” Merlin agreed, sobering up.

“Are we ready?” Arthur asked. Merlin nodded, “Grab hold of my other hand, but don’t let go of the Triskelion. And stay close to me at all times, we need to be in physical contact for me to orb with you.”

Merlin moved in front of Arthur’s so he could take his free hand without letting go of the Triskelion, “Let’s go.”

When they orbed out Merlin couldn’t help but notice that Arthur’s orbs were different. Merlin remembered all the times he had seen the bright white lights in the corner of his eye, and when Arthur had orbed directly in front of him before he took that arrow. His orbs now had a tint of gold in them like when they had transferred powers. The possessive part of Merlin hoped they would stay like that, it would mean Arthur was his.

The first thing they noticed when they orbed into the room was the smell. It was the vilest thing he had ever smelt. It was sickening. Rotten eggs, ammonia, sweat and faeces all mixed in with the smell of decaying meat, hung thick and cloying in the air.

Merlin had to fight down his gag reflex as soon as the smell hit the back of his throat. Judging from the choking sounds coming from Arthur, he was also struggling. He really wanted to cover his mouth and nose with his hand, but that would mean letting go of Arthur or the Triskelion, neither of which Merlin wanted to do.

Taking short shallow breaths through his mouth Merlin tried to look around the room they were in, except he couldn’t see anything, the room was pitch black, Merlin could barely see his hand in front of his face. There was certainly no pale blue light anywhere. The only sounds that could be heard was his and Arthur’s shallow ragged breathing. The room was eerily still and quite.

Merlin should have known it wouldn’t be that simple. Now they are going to have to explore the tower in search of the blue light, how they were meant to do that in the dark, he didn’t know.

The Triskelion took on a life of its own, and started to raise up, taking their hands with it. Once the Triskelion had reached as high as their hands could stretch, it started to tug out of their hands wanting to go higher. Both Merlin and Arthur gripper harder, but the harder they gripped the harder the Triskelion pulled. Just as he was about to grab on with his other hand the Triskelion yanked out of their grasp.

Merlin tried to see where it went but he couldn’t even see Arthur standing next to him.

Suddenly the room was filled with a bright pale blue light. The room looked as bad as it smelled. There were several dozen animal corpses scattered around the floor, all in several stages of decay. There were also multiple plies of what looked like branches and rags, arranged into what Merlin could only describe as nests. Thankfully all empty.

Merlin’s eyes spun around the room searching for the source light until he spotted the Triskelion floating above their heads glowing brightly with the blue light illuminating the room for them.

Merlin looked towards the creatures again trying to determine what kind of creatures they were. He had never seen anything like them. The size of horses with wings, covered in scales, large snouts with long sharp teeth protruding from their mouths. “What are they?” Merlin whispered in case there were live creatures amongst them.

“Wyverns,” Arthur croaked, “They are distant relatives of dragons.”

Merlin looked over to Arthur, who wasn’t even looking at the mess around them, his eyes were fixed on a spot on the other side of the room. Merlin followed his gaze and saw at the far end of room stood a tall thin stone pedestal on top of which sat a pale blue pointy oval shaped object. Merlin knew in his gut that this is what they had come for.

“And that” Arthur continued, “I am fairly certain that that is a dragon egg.”

Merlin didn’t know how but he knew Arthur was right.

They quickly picked their way over to the pedestal making sure not to stand on anything, not taking their chances that something was still alive. The Triskelion followed above them lighting the way more clearly.

Once they were standing in front of the pedestal, Merlin examined the egg. It was stunning, the pale blue shell was flawless. Completely smooth, there was not a crack or a mark on it, no hint of dirt or cobwebs, which was surprising given its surroundings.

Merlin could sense something coming from it, similar to what he sensed from Morgause, only this wasn’t dark or wrong, it was innocent and right. ‘Magic’ Merlin thought. “Is it still alive?” Merlin asked, not seeing how it would be possible, it had to have been here for thousands of years.

Arthur lifted his hand, hovered it over the egg and closed his eyes. Merlin waited with baited breath for what felt like hours but could only have been a minute or two. Finally Arthur opened his eyes, “Yes,” he nodded, “But it is extremely weak, it is not going to last much longer.”

“What do we do?” Merlin asked.

A slow deep growl echoed throughout the room before Arthur could reply, making them both freeze on the spot, the growl was quickly followed by a hiss then another growl.

Merlin slowly looked up to see two of the creatures entering through a doorway that he missed before, the two creatures were whole and alive and clearly not happy with their trespassers.

Merlin quickly raised his hand and froze them and breathed out a sigh of relief, until he heard more hisses behind him. He quickly froze them too and turned to Arthur only to find that he had accidentally frozen him too. “Oops, Sorry Arthur.” Merlin muttered to himself.

He wondered if he could unfreeze just Arthur, he had never just unfrozen one person or object from a frozen room before.

Merlin lifted his hand so that his palm was out in front of Arthur. He focused his mind and his magic only on Arthur. “Merlin?” Arthur asked. That was easier than he thought it would be but then freezing the creatures had been easier than normal too, now he thought about it, he froze the second two creatures just by thinking it. “You froze me didn’t you?”

“Sorry,” Merlin replied sheepishly with a shrug.

Merlin checked the Wyvern’s were still frozen and this time he noticed that there were several doorways and archways dotted around the room. “We need to hurry, before more turn up.” Merlin said.

“I suspect this whole tower is infested with them.” Arthur agreed. “We should grab the egg and orb back.”

“Can we move it?” Merlin asked, “What if there is something in this pedestal keeping it alive?” Merlin made to move closer, to examine the pedestal properly, until a roar drew his attention back to centre of the room.

The sound of flapping wings and snarls suddenly filled the room, and two more creatures dropped in from the above floor, one of which was mere meters from them. Merlin swung both palm up and pushed his magic out, but instead of freezing, the Wyvern exploded, covering them both in bits of blood, guts and gore.

“What?!” But Merlin didn’t get the chance to think about what had just happened, as the other Wyvern lunged for Arthur. “Arthur!” Merlin yelled, and directed his magic towards that creature, that creature also exploded and so did Arthur.

“Arthur!” Merlin screamed. No. no, he can’t have just killed Arthur. Not after everything they have just been through. He has not just saved him only to kill him himself.

“Here.” Came Arthur’s voice from behind. Merlin spun around to find Arthur standing whole as if Merlin didn’t just see his orbs scatter. He did however look a little worse for wear as his clothes now had large smoking burn holes in them. So big that Merlin could see Arthur’s unburned flesh underneath.

“How?”

“You won’t get rid of me that easily. I’m a White-Lighter, technically speaking I’m already dead.”

“But how?” Merlin asked, looking down at his hands, they should have frozen, why didn’t they freeze. He didn’t mean to kill the creatures, they were only protecting their territory.

“Your powers have evolved, the Elders said they were expecting them to grow.” Arthur explained, “Don’t worry,” Arthur said as Merlin started to panic, “You will learn to control them, just like you did with the freezing power. I will help you.”

“But what if I accidently hurt you?”

“I think I have just proven you can’t Merlin.” Arthur smirked.

“Oh,” Merlin said, remembering that he had just blown Arthur up a moment a go. “Right.”

“All that noise will have alerted every other Wyvern in this tower, and if it really is infested we are about to be overrun by them. We should grab the egg and go.” Arthur said.

“Is it safe for the egg?” Merlin asked, looking to the egg which was still in a pristine condition, no dirt, blood or guts or anything. Clearly something was protecting it, but was it the egg itself or the pedestal.

“It’s a chance we will have to take.” Arthur said quickly.

The sound of more growling and hissing quickly filled the room, this time there were clearly dozens of the Wyverns, the echo vibrated throughout the tower making the ground shake below his feet,

“No time, we need to go now!” Arthur yelled, to be heard over the noise.

Merlin snatched the egg from the pedestal. The moment the egg left the pedestal the entire room began to rumble and shake violently. Dust and sand started to fall from the ceiling, the whole tower was about to collapse on top of them.

The light from the Triskelion went out and it fell to the floor, narrowly missing his head and leaving them in darkness.

Merlin quickly got to his hand and knees using his free hand to sweep the floor where he heard the Triskelion fall. He tried hard not to think about all the other stuff he could feel or what they might be.

“Merlin?” Arthur called.

“Here.” Merlin replied, from the floor, repeating Arthur’s earlier words.

“Where are you? We need to be in contact.”

“Wait!” Merlin said sweeping his hand faster, “The Triskelion!” he exclaimed out of triumph when his hand made contact with a solid block of metal. Merlin expected it to be warm if not hot, but it wasn’t, it was cold like normal metal. There was no connection to it, there was no vibe, no magic, it was dead.

A hand patting his head brought him back to his senses, there was constant growling and hissing in the room now and Merlin knew that even though he couldn’t see them they were surrounded and about to be attacked. That was assuming the tower would last long enough for the Wyvern’s to attack. Merlin wondered briefly what would kill them first, the creatures or the tower? Arthur’s now familiar orbs suddenly filled his vision. Orbing, how had he forgotten about that?

Merlin huffed out a sigh of relief when he was back in his hallway once more, and breathed in a lung full of fresh air. “Are you okay?” he asked Arthur, his eyes scanning him up and down. Other than being incredibly dirty and smelly Arthur looked fine.

“Yeah,” Arthur replied, copying Merlin’s actions, “You?”

“I’m fine,” Merlin replied, “We did it.” He said, lifting the egg. Before Arthur could reply thunder echoed throughout the hallway.

Merlin quickly realised that it wasn’t thunder he could hear but three pairs of feet running down the stairs.

There was a chorus of “Merlin!” “Arthur!” and “You’re back!” It was difficult to identify who had said what. The three girls soon came into vision as they rushed at them. Only to stop a few meters away from them and hastily retreated. Then the chorus became, “whoa,” “You two stink!” “You reek!”

“Well nice to see you too.” Merlin replied, throwing the dead Triskelion onto a small side table in the hall. Though he had admit they truly did smell.

“What is that?” Gwen asked, pointing to the egg in Merlin’s hands.

“An egg.” Merlin replied simply.

“An egg for what?” Morgana asked.

“Never mind that.” Freya exclaimed, as a large lump of gooey flesh fell from Merlin’s shirt to the floor with a squish. “Strip the pair of you.” She demanded.

“What?” Merlin squeaked.

“There is no way you two are going through the house, leaving entrails all over the place.” Freya said sternly.

“Not to mention the smell,” Morgana added.

“Gwen can you fetch the bucket from under the sink please?” Freya asked.

“Of course.” She replied as she ran off.

“Put your clothes in the bucket.” Freya ordered.

“And then we will burn them.” Morgana added.

“But!” Merlin blushed, not wanting to strip in front of the three girls.

“No but’s Merlin,” Freya said firmly. Gwen arrived back with the bucket and slid it over to them, not wanting to get any closer to them than she had too.

“You haven’t got anything we haven’t seen before.” Morgana teased.

“Not since we were nine.” Merlin retorted. Already knowing it was useless, they had already lost this argument before it began. Three against two hardly seemed fair.

“Come on Merlin, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get in the shower and wash all this off us.” Arthur encouraged, who had already taken off his top and threw it into the bucket.

Arthur gestured for the egg so that Merlin could do the same. “Fine.” He huffed, and gave Arthur the egg. Merlin made quick work of taking off his shirt, shoes, socks and pants and threw them into the bucket. Merlin felt cleaner already but there was no way he was taking off his underwear he was feeling exposed enough as it was.

Merlin took back the egg so that Arthur could finish. “And the rest.” Freya demanded.

“No way.” Merlin retorted, “These are clean so it’s not necessary.”

“Besides I have no wish to see Merlin naked,” Morgana said. “Though I wouldn’t complain if Arthur choose to continue.” Morgana smirked.

“Hussy.” Merlin mumbled.

“I heard that!” Morgana said.

“But I love you anyway sis.” Merlin smiled sweetly.

“Now go shower.” Freya ordered, once they were both down to their underwear.

“You can leave that with us.” Morgana said, gesturing towards the egg.

“No it’s okay,” Merlin replied quickly, tightening his hold on the egg. He trusted the girls completely but he was feeling extremely protective over the egg and didn’t want it to leave his sight. “We got it.” Quickly making his way for the stairs and the shower.

Merlin felt the exhaustion set in as they both trudged up the stairs. Making his feet feel like lead weights. ‘And it’s no wonder,’ he thought, ‘this had to be the longest day in his life, it had to be early hours of the morning at least.’ The last few hours had been an emotional rollercoaster, what with Morgause and Cenred, Arthur nearly dying and recovering, finding the dragon egg and then being attacked by Wyvern’s.

But they weren’t done yet, they still had the egg to sort out before they could sleep.

They both showered together quickly and methodical, both of them too exhausted to take advantage of the situation. But that didn’t stop Merlin dragging his eyes up and down Arthur’s body, he could still appreciate the view even if he didn’t have the energy to do anything about it. They passed the egg back and forth between them both reluctant to let it out of their sight.

Once they were showered, cleaned and dressed, Merlin felt so much better getting his second wind or was it third now? Maybe even forth!

They made their way back down the stairs, the smell of coffee hitting Merlin’s nostrils encouraged him to go faster.

“I thought you could both use some coffee.” Gwen said, offering out a cup, when they made it into the kitchen.

“Oh, thank you so much,” Merlin said, already taking the cup with both hands. “You truly are an angel,” Merlin sighed taking in a deep breath of the coffee, letting the smell fill him up.

“Oh I don’t know about that,” Gwen blushed fiercely.

Arthur put the egg down on the table before accepting his cup. “Thanks Gwen.” Arthur thanked, keeping the egg in front of him.

“So what is the egg about?” Morgana asked.

“It’s a dragon egg.” Arthur replied.

“I was worried you were going to say that,” Freya answered.

“How is it?” Merlin asked. Sitting himself next to it.

Arthur lifted his hand over the egg once more. “It’s still very weak, I’m not sure it’s strong enough to hatch.” Arthur admitted.

“It’s still alive!” Morgana exclaimed.

“Yes.”

“What do we do? Can you heal it?” Merlin asked.

“I can try.” Arthur said, raising his hand once more.

“No wait, we should talk about this first.” Freya rushed. But Arthur’s hand was already glowing attempting to heal the egg.

“I can’t penetrate the shell.” Arthur said shaking his head.

“You can’t hatch it.” Freya said loudly, “It’s a dragon, what are we going to do with a dragon?”

“It’s a baby!” Merlin replied.

“But still a dragon,” Freya insisted, “What do we know about raising a dragon? Where are we going to keep it? And it won’t be a baby for long, who knows how fast these things grow.”  

“It’s very weak,” Arthur replied, “It must have been there for thousands of years, I’m not sure how much longer it will last.”

“What do you propose we do?” Merlin asked Freya gently, “Should we let it die?”

Freya opened and closed her mouth, not knowing how to reply. “I’m sort of with Freya on this one.” Morgana said, “What do we know about raising a baby dragon. Where will we keep it?”

“We will figure it out just like we always do.” Merlin replied. “We can keep it in the basement for the time being.”

“What would it eat?” Morgana asked, with a familiar spark in her eye. Merlin had already won her over. Morgana even looked excited though she was clearly trying to hide it.

“Chicken?” Merlin guessed.

“It may be a dragon but it’s still a baby,” Gwen added wisely, “A baby is an innocent no matter what the species, it would be wrong to just let a baby die.”

“I swear you have all lost all sense of reason and logic today.” Freya huffed. But Merlin could see the idea of letting a baby die didn’t sit well with her either. Freya was overprotective and extremely cautious, and worries far too much. But even then she would not let a baby die.

“We were meant to find this.” Arthur said gently, “If we weren’t capable of it then we wouldn’t have found it. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy but I believe we can all do this together.”

“Okay,” Freya nodded reluctantly, “I’m in. I’m just worried about how we are going to do this without anyone noticing.”

“We will figure it out,” Merlin soothed, “We can learn all about the wards and shields, there may be something there that will help.”

“First we need to figure out how to hatch it.” Arthur reminded them. “Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Well the Triskelion needed both you and me to work because we are soul mates, what if the egg needs the same? Your Dragonlord magic with my healing magic together.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” Merlin agreed. “We should both touch it together.”

Arthur nodded and placed both hands just above the egg, not yet touching. Once Merlin had done the same Arthur looked to him and asked, “Ready?”

“Ready,” Merlin agreed again. The pair slowly lowered their hands until both their palms were placed firmly on the egg.

At first Merlin didn’t feel anything different, he could feel the sense of magic like he could before, but for a few moments that was all there was. That was until Arthur’s hands started to glow. Slowly he began to feel the life force within the egg. Arthur was right it was weak, he could barely sense its heartbeat. _His_ heartbeat, for it was definitely a boy. Arthur’s hands glowed brighter and his heartbeat got louder, his whole presence getting stronger and stronger. Merlin could almost feel him moving within the egg. ‘Aithusa’ rang out in his mind. “Aithusa.” Merlin repeated instinctively.

The egg wobbled beneath their palms, surprising them both to let go of the egg. The egg wobbled again. The girls gathered in closer, everyone was watching the egg with rapt attention. The egg wobbled again almost tipping itself over, Merlin reached out and steadied it. The egg was constantly wobbling and spinning slightly, small scratching sounds could be heard from within.

Then it stopped and remained still. Nothing happened, everyone waited holding their breath without realising. Merlin lifted his hands in order to touch the egg again to find out if it was still alive, Arthur copying his movements, when all of a sudden a crack appeared across the tip of the egg. Shortly after that another crack appeared down the side. Then another across the middle.

Slowly the cracks appeared eventually covering the egg. A small section at the top started to push out then another section near the base. A larger section in middle started to push out only to recede again. Merlin was itching to reach out and help, he wanted to remove the sections to help the baby. But he knew in his gut that the little dragon had to do this himself.

Eventually the section at the top shot off and tiny white claw protruded from it. Merlin couldn’t tell if it was a foot or an arm. Did dragons even have arms? The foot, arm, was wriggling in the air, the claw constantly stretching out and curling in as if trying to find something to grab onto.

Another very small section at the bottom fell away and a tiny nose could be seen, which immediately started to sniff the air. “He’s upside down.” Merlin mumbled.

“He?” Gwen whispered. Merlin nodded glancing up at the other two. Surprise, aww and wonder were written all over their faces. Merlin smiled, he could sense that he and Arthur were not going to be the only ones to be protective over this little dragon.

Turning his attention back to the egg the section around the nose was now wider and the nose itself was trying to angle itself towards Merlin’s direction. “Come on little one you can do it.” The encouragement was all Aithusa needed, Merlin now realising that was his name. The wriggling intensified and the egg fell on its side. Merlin allowed it, better than on his head, but he did put a protective hand out to stop it from rolling away, not that it would get far as both Freya and Morgana put both of their hands out ready to catch should it get past Merlin.

Now that he was on his side he was able to put the power behind his tiny limbs that he needed to. The former flawless shell now started to crumble and within seconds a tiny baby white dragon laid on top of their table.

The baby immediately started to scramble on his legs attempting to sit up, letting out a couple of squeaks and huffs in the process. “Awww.” Merlin heard from the girls, Merlin was surprised to hear that Freya was the loudest.

It took him a few attempts before the baby could finally sit back on his hind legs, his long thin tail curled around to his front feet, looking a lot like a mere cat, his wings tucked into his sides and still very wobbly until he eventually put down his front feet to steady himself and was able to take in his surroundings for the first time.

The baby dragon glanced at Morgana, Freya and Gwen in turn, with his amber eyes. He let out a little chirp when he noticed Arthur who smiled in response and getting a “So cute,” From the girls. Arthur held out his hand allowing him to sniff him, the baby chirped again, pleased. “Awww.” The girls repeated and Merlin chuckled at them.

This drew the baby dragon’s attention to him. His head immediately perked up and he let out several chirps. “Hello Aithusa.” Merlin smiled, holding his hand out so Aithusa could get his scent too. Aithusa rubbed his head into Merlin’s hand and a small growling sound came from his chest, it took a moment to realise that it was a contented sound like a cat purring.

“Awww he’s like a cat.” Morgana said reading his thoughts.

Aithusa attempted to move forward on his legs towards Merlin but his back legs gave way from underneath him. “It’s okay,” Merlin said, moving his hands to help steady him, “You will get the hang of it.” Aithusa chirped in response.

“Looks like he knows who his mummy is,” Arthur laughed.

“Daddy,” Merlin corrected firmly.

“You are definitely the girl in this relationship _Mer_ lin,” Arthur smirked.

“We can’t keep him in the basement,” Morgana exclaimed, “It’s too dark and cold in there for him.” She cooed attempting to gain Aithusa’s attention. Aithusa’s attention was still fixed firmly on his legs, determined to figure out how to get them to work.

“We can fix that.” Freya said. “We can make it nice and warm for him.”

“Can you check him Arthur?” Merlin asked, “Make sure he has recovered, a couple of thousand years can’t have been good for him.”

“Overprotective mummy already,” Arthur laughed.

“He was extremely weak before, I just want to make sure that this wobbliness is normal and not because he hasn’t recovered yet.”

“All babies are unsteady on their feet at first.” Arthur said, but lifted his palm anyway. Arthur held out his hand and Aithusa latched on with both his front claws. Both claws not even covering his little finger. “He is so small.” Arthur said, “But I don’t know if that’s normal or not.”

Arthur’s hand started to glow again, instead of shying away Aithusa buried his head in Arthur’s hand, but then Arthur’s light quickly went out. “He ate it.” Arthur exclaimed while Aithusa chirped at his hand as if asking for more.

“What do you mean he ate it? He ate your powers?” Merlin asked.

“He didn’t eat my powers,” Arthur said, allowing his hand to glow again as proof. Aithusa buried his head again and started to lick Arthur’s hand as he kept up the magic. “But when I heal I use magic, the glow you see _is_ magic. He is eating the magic.” Arthur explained.

“Well at least this makes feeding him easy.” Morgana said, reminding Merlin they weren’t alone. “He eats magic.”

“Didn’t Morgause say something about a ley-line underneath the house? Something about raw magic?” Merlin asked.

“She did yeah,” Morgana agreed “But I’m not sure what that means.”

“I can ask the Elders.” Arthur offered.

“Can you ask them about dragons too,” Freya asked.

“I already have,” Arthur said, “They think dragons are mindless beasts.” He admitted, Aithusa lifted his head up and hissed at Arthur. “Not me,” Arthur rushed.

“He can understand us?” Gwen gasped.

“I don’t think you are a mindless beast,” Arthur continued when Aithusa didn’t stop. “I think you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.” Arthur cooed. Aithusa clearly much happier with this answer chirped and proceeded to rub his head in Arthur’s hand before continuing to lick at his magic.

“Now who’s the girl?” Merlin laughed.

“Shut up Merlin.” Arthur grumbled. “The problem with the Elders is that none of them are old enough to remember, no one remembers dragons they have been extinct for far too long.”

“Well he clearly has intelligence if he can understand us.” Freya said. “Therefore not mindless.”

“Nor a beast,” Gwen added.

“Besides you are not going back to the Elders.” Merlin said firmly. He had not forgotten about Arthur being in trouble with them the thought of Arthur becoming human with no memories was almost too much to bare.

“I have to go back some time Merlin.” Arthur soothed.

“Why? You don’t have too. We have managed fairly well without them so far, so we can continue to manage without them, you just stay here.” Merlin ordered.

“They will eventually send someone to come and get me.” Arthur said. “It would be better if I went on my own free will.”

“Fine,” Merlin huffed, “Just not right now, okay.”

“I will go tomorrow.” Arthur nodded.

Aithusa raised his head, now finished with his meal allowing Arthur to take his hand back, then he stretched his legs and expanded his wings, giving them all a first look. His wingspan was impressive for a body his size. “He is gorgeous,” Gwen cooed.

Aithusa unused to using his wings promptly tipped over and almost face planted the table before he righted himself. “He definitely takes after Merlin,” Morgana laughed.

Aithusa stumbled his way over to Merlin, legs still wobbly underneath him, “He’s fine.” Arthur reassured quickly before Merlin could ask. Aithusa clawed at Merlin’s chest once he made it to him. And Merlin felt confident in being able to scoop him up, Aithusa immediately curled up in the crook of his arm against his chest and let out a jaw popping yawn, showing tiny pointy white teeth.

“We will have to be careful of those teeth in future.” Freya warned, Aithusa chirped in agreement.

“He’s tired,” Morgana cooed.

“We are all tired.” Merlin agreed.

“Where will he sleep?” Gwen asked.

“I think he has already chosen his bed for the night.” Arthur said.

“Sorry Arthur, looks like you are going to have to share,” Morgana teased.

“Not for long,” Arthur said, “He will be too big to do that one day, he will crush Merlin.” Aithusa gave out a sad chirp in agreement.

“He definitely understands us.” Freya commented. Aithusa chirped once more and settled down in Merlin’s arms and closed his eyes, signalling that he was done for the night.

“I think we should all go to bed,” Gwen suggested, “It will be dawn soon.”

“I think that is something we can all agree on.” Freya said.

“Wait, there is one more thing that needs doing first.” Merlin said before anyone could move.

“What?” Arthur asked.

“The Triskelion, we should plant it in Morgause’s desk for the police to find. That way they have to let Freya off if the evidence is in Morgause’s desk.” Merlin explained. “All that paperwork with the safe deposit box should have Morgause’s name all over it too. If they find that there along with the Triskelion they will have clear Freya’s name.”

“Now?!” Morgana asked.

“Now would be best while there is no one there.”

“Is it safe to give that back?” Freya asked.

Merlin nodded, “Its dead now, nothing but a lump of solid metal, good for a paperweight nothing more.”

Freya looked to Arthur silently asking a question that Arthur read perfectly, “Fine I will take it, but don’t start taking advantage of my orbs, I’m not a delivery boy.” Arthur said rolling his eyes. “Where is it?” He asked Merlin.

“Erm…on the table in the hallway where I chucked it.” Merlin admitted sheepishly.

“Of course it is,” Arthur huffed.

“I’ll wait up.” Merlin offered.

“It won’t take that long, I will be back before you get into bed.”

“Okay,” Merlin said, getting up being careful not to disturb Aithusa.

 

***

 

Arthur wasted no time putting the Triskelion into the bottom draw of Morgause’s desk, exhaustion radiated from every bone in his body.

He orbed back directly into Merlin’s bedroom to find that Merlin had already collapsed onto the bed and was fast asleep, Aithusa curled up on his still fully clothed chest.

Arthur sighed gently and divested Merlin of his pants and socks. He left on Merlin’s top not really wanting to disturb Aithusa plus the layer would give Merlin some protection against his claws. He maybe only be a baby but his claws where still sharp which he discovered earlier when Aithusa ate his magic.

Arthur quickly undressed himself and got into the bed, orbing the blankets out from underneath Merlin and on top of him. Arthur smiled at being able to use his powers freely. He curled into Merlin’s side resting his head next to his and wrapping his arm around Merlin’s waist. He was on the verge of sleep when Aithusa wrapped his tail around his arm. Arthur smiled and was asleep before he thought any more of it.

They were both woken far too early, at least it felt early but it was actually dinner time by the time Aithusa saw fit to wake them both with constant chirping and clawing slightly at their chests.

“Whasossit?” Merlin mumbled.

“Aithusa,” Arthur answered, wondering if he should be worried at the ability to understand Merlin’s pre-morning babble. At Aithusa’s name, Aithusa chirped while Merlin’s head lifted off Arthur’s shoulder, no matter what position they started the night in he always woke up to find Merlin using his shoulder as a pillow. Arthur wouldn’t complain though he loved it and loved the lazy mornings with him like this, only they don’t usually have a baby dragon demanding their attention.

“Is he okay?” Merlin asked, voice tainted with concern.

“He is fine…Hungry maybe.” Arthur suggested, lifting himself up on his elbow and holding out his hand, pooling his magic in it for him. Aithusa sniffed at his hand but otherwise wasn’t interested.

“Maybe he needs the toilet.” Merlin asked, “Toilet Aithusa?”

“He may be able to understand us Merlin,” Arthur laughed, when Aithusa cocked her head and chirped in confusion, “But that doesn’t mean he knows what a toilet is.”

“Right,” Merlin blushed at the thought of having to describe the toilet and its function. “Do you wish to urinate?” Arthur couldn’t stop himself, he threw himself back down on the bed and laughed hard.

“Arthur,” Merlin wined.

“Sorry,” Arthur laughed, trying to get himself under control.

“No you’re not.”

“You’re right, I’m not,” Arthur laughed, “I love you in mornings.” Arthur said finally calming down.

“Glad I amuse you.” Merlin retorted, but Arthur could see him smile.

“Try again.”

“Okay,” Merlin replied, gathering himself up, “Do you need the bathroom?” Aithusa just tilted his head the other way.

“Smaller words Merlin,” Merlin didn’t reply but bit his lip. “Come on _Mer_ lin, you know what you need to say.” Arthur teased.

“Fine,” Merlin huffed, “Do you need a wee wee?” Merlin blushed red. Arthur laughed again wiping tears from his eyes.

“I couldn’t resist it,” Arthur laughed.

“Prat!”

“Still not sorry,” He said, Arthur calmed himself and cleared his throat before he asked, “Aithusa, do you want to go outside?”

Aithusa chirped and flapped his wings while bouncing slightly on Merlin’s chest. “I will take that as a yes then.” Merlin muttered. “Wait outside! He can’t go outside.”

“Why not?”

“Well what if someone sees him? What if he flies away?” Merlin panicked.

“For a start off, your garden is fairly well overlooked, no one will notice, not with his size, and if they do they will probably think he is a small dog.” Arthur offered, “And I don’t think he is capable of flying yet, nor is he willing to leave your side at the moment.” He said, noticing the way that Aithusa was curling his tail around Merlin’s arm while he sat up.

“That’s true I suppose,” Merlin replied thoughtfully, “He was unsteady on his feet last night, it will be a while before his wings are strong enough.” He said, while delicately trying to examine his wings.

“Well you go sort that out and I will go get some coffee on,” Arthur said, before planting a wet kiss on Merlin’s lips and getting out of bed.

“Why do I get bathroom duty?” Merlin asked dropping Aithusa’s wing.

“Because he is your dragon.” Arthur answered getting dressing.

“Our”

“What?”

“He is our dragon.” Merlin answered.

Arthur smiled with a warm feeling in his chest and leant down to give Merlin another kiss, “Your still on bathroom duty.”

“Fine,” Merlin huffed, “But it’s your turn next time.”

“That’s fine by me.” Arthur answered neglecting to mention that there may not be a next time, not if the Elders have their way. He quickly made his way to the bathroom to wash up before Merlin could pick up on his tension.

Arthur took his time in the bathroom, he needed a few moments to gather his wits about him. He was downplaying it to Merlin but he was really worried about the Elders and he knew he wouldn’t have long before they called for him. He knew that they had made an exception for soul mates in the past but whether they would for him was another matter, and none of those soul mates were between White-Lighters and Warlocks.

He hoped that Kilgharrah would defend and back him up, at least then he would stand a chance, even if he wasn’t in charge Kilgharrah was still a highly respected Elder.

Both Merlin and Aithusa had gone when Arthur exited the bathroom. Arthur quickly made his way downstairs, wanting to make the most of his time left, just in case.

All three girls were in the kitchen making coffee and toast but there was no sign of Merlin. He was just about to go looking in the garden for him when Merlin came in through the back door with Aithusa perched on his shoulder and his tail wrapped gently around his neck.

“We are going to need a bigger garden when he is fully grown.” Merlin announced as he moved to let Aithusa jump down onto the table. “And some padded shirts,” He added with a wince, when Aithusa’s claws dug into his shoulder.

“He won’t be able to sit on your shoulder for long, he will soon be too heavy.” Arthur said.

“He will soon be too big for everything,” Freya mused, “Perhaps we should look into larger permanent accommodation for him.”

“A cave maybe?” Gwen offered.

“He can’t live in a cave!” Merlin cried, pulling Aithusa protectively towards him.

“Not now he can’t,” Morgana said, “But when he is fully grown. It will take time to find the right place anyway. We need something large enough for him, somewhere close but where he won’t be found or seen flying.”

“Oh I can’t wait to see him flying.” Freya cooed at Aithusa.

“We still have time,” Arthur added, seeing Merlin’s parting anxiety already.

“We don’t know how fast he is going to grow, so it wouldn’t hurt to start,” Morgana pointed out.

“I don’t suppose we could just dig an underground cave under the house?” Merlin tried.

“And what about flying?” Freya asked, “Pretty sure the neighbours will notice a giant dragon coming and going.”

“Not to mention the street could disappear into the cave,” Morgana added.

“Nice try Merlin,” Arthur smiled.

“So what is the plan for today?” Freya asked, “I can’t go back into work until they find all the evidence and clear my name.”

“I am supposed to go back to today,” Merlin said, “But I don’t think I could leave Aithusa just yet, or him me. I will have to call in sick for this week at least.”

“You could always leave Aithusa with us, I’m sure we can look after him well enough.” Aithusa answered that for Merlin by scrambling back up his arm to his shoulder and chirped down his ear. “Right.” Morgana said, “Point proven. Well at least we can spend the day making the basement more habitable, seeing how none of us are working today.”

“Gwen?” Merlin asked.

“Actually I have dinner plans with Lance.” Gwen blushed. “And well…we were talking last night, me Morgana and Freya that is, while you two were off egg hunting, and we decided that I could stay a little longer, so that I can get a job in the area and then get my own place. That is if you don’t mind Merlin, of course if you do, I can easily stay in a hotel-“

“Gwen!” Merlin shouted to cut off her rambling. “I don’t mind at all.” He smiled. “But you are not all allowed to gang up on me, three girls against one is unfair.”

“Two!” Morgana pointed out, “You have Arthur.”

“Actually I have to go and see the Elders today.” Arthur remained, making Merlin’s grin fall.

“You will come back. You have too.” Merlin said firmly, “I won’t have it any other way.”

“What will happen if they won’t let you come back?” Freya asked.

“They will make me human and wipe my memories.” Arthur replied stunning the girls into silence.

“You can tell them that, if we don’t have you we won’t have anything to do with them.” Merlin snapped. Aithusa rubbed his head against Merlin’s with his soft purr, in an attempt to comfort him.

“Merlin.” Arthur started. He didn’t want to go either, he hated the thought of being without them. He has come to see them all as his family in his time here, but he had to prepare them for the worst. “There is a good chance-“

“No,” Merlin snapped again, “Like I said last night, we have managed so far without their help and we will continue on without it.”

“I agree with Merlin,” Morgana inputted.

“Me too.” Added Freya.

Arthur smiled at them all, seeing his sentiments returned. “I won’t go down without a fight that I can promise you.”

“Well you can tell them that if they think they are intimidated by me now it will be nothing compared to how they will feel if I have to come and get you. I may not have the power now but I will make it my top priority.” Merlin warned. “I don’t care how long it takes. And if they make you human I will scour the earth for you whether you remember or not.”

Arthur almost felt overwhelmed at all of their responses.

“How will we know what they decide?” Gwen asked.

“You won’t.” Arthur replied, “I just won’t come back.”

“How long do we wait?” Merlin croaked, scratching at Aithusa’s head.

“It’s hard to say. A couple of day’s maybe?” Arthur guessed, “They control time up there. They can make several days pass down here while only a few hours pass up there, or vice versa if they choose. Normally they keep it equal.”

Nobody responded to that, everyone just sat or stood in silence.

“Well, I guess I better go and get this over with.” Arthur said, unable to stand the silence anymore. “Look,” Arthur added, “I know you don’t see them in a good light at the moment, but they are the good guys, they are on our side, they work for the greater good of all magic and mankind.” Arthur said, feeling the need to remind himself as well as inform the others of this fact.

“If they are the good guys then they will send you back to me. Us.” Merlin replied.

Arthur made to move towards Merlin, he wasn’t going for a hug but was definitely going to kiss him until, “Don’t you dare say goodbye Arthur Pendragon, because we WILL being seeing you again.”

However it seemed Merlin was the one who couldn’t resist as he moved in closer and gave him a firm hard kiss followed by a softer one. Aithusa head butted him gently on the forehead which Arthur assumed was some form of kiss, clearly copying Merlin.

“I will see you later then.” Arthur chuckled, giving Aithusa a quick pat on the head. Aithusa chirped.

Arthur orbed out before he lost the courage to leave.

The Elders immediately noticed when Arthur orbed up top. His orbs having taken on a golden tint gave him away instantly.

“What is the meaning of this Arthur?” An Elder asked as several of them broke away from their huddle to approach Arthur.

“A lot has happened.” Arthur answered.

“Including you mating with a Warlock it seems.”

“Merlin is my soul mate.” Arthur announced. The Elders broke out in objection, this time sounding like a hive of bees rather than chickens.

“You know that’s against the rules Arthur. It’s forbidden.” An Elder replied.

“Why?” Arthur objected.

“There are too many complications and consequences. Many of which we cannot predict.”

“So you don’t allow it because it’s unknown and you don’t know what will happen?” Arthur asked, doing his best to keep his voice calm and soft. If he loses his temper and starts shouting it will all be over. “Merlin is my soul mate. I know it. My orbs are proof of that. If it was so wrong then we wouldn’t be soul mates.” Arthur reasoned.

“We have made exceptions for soul mates in the past.” Arthur recognised Kilgharrah’s voice.

“Yes but this is different,” Another Elder replied, “He mated with a Warlock.”

“Warlocks have soul mates just like everyone else.” Kilgharrah pointed out.

“So what? Are we just supposed to leave it and ignore it?”

“What do you propose we do?” Kilgharrah asked.

“There is more.” Arthur interrupted, he wanted them to take everything into account.

“What more?” An Elder asked warily.

“The Triskelion.” Arthur announced, “The Charmed Ones translated it and we worked out what it meant.”

“Continue.” An Elder ordered, when Arthur paused trying to find the right words.

“It said, ‘When two halves become whole, I will show you the way’”

“We know what it said Arthur, we informed you.”

“I know but you didn’t inform me what it meant or you didn’t know.” Arthur replied. “The two halves of a whole were me and Merlin. Once we bonded it activated Merlin’s Dragonlord gene which in turn activated the Triskelion. We were both needed to make it work.”

“Were? You have already done this?” An Elder asked.

“Does this mean you exposed yourself too them?” Another asked.

“I had no choice.” Arthur nodded.

“So you have disobeyed not one but two of our orders?” An Elder exclaimed.

“I had no choice, Merlin was about to be killed.” Arthur explained, “What’s more important protecting my charges or keeping my secret?”

“That is no longer relevant.” An Elder objected.

“It’s very relevant,” Arthur retorted, raising his voice, “That was the choice I had to make. If I hadn’t of acted then they all would have died.”

“Surly you could have found another way?”

“There was no time.” Arthur shook his head. “I did what I had to do to protect my charges. That is my top priority.”

The Elders muttered away amongst themselves for a few moments, before coming back to Arthur.

“What did the Triskelion lead you too?” Kilgharrah asked.

“A dragon egg.” Arthur replied.

“A dragon egg?”

“Where is it now?”

“It must be hidden away.”

“It cannot be allowed to hatch.” The Elders buzzed in unison.

“It has already hatched.” Arthur informed, leaving the Elders stunned. “And he is not a mindless beast as you thought. Aithusa is intelligent, he understands us.”

“He?” Kilgharrah asked.

“Intelligent?”

“Yes,” Arthur replied, “His name is Aithusa and he is already communicating with us, granted on a basic level but still communicating.”

“This is just as the old prophecies foretold.” Kilgharrah said.

“Not the old prophecies again,” An Elder grumbled.

“How can you deny them now?” Kilgharrah asked. “They told of the Charmed Ones, of Merlin.”

“Many prophecies foretold that.”

“They foretold of Merlin’s soul mate, his anchor, his guardian. Arthur is his guardian and soul mate.” Kilgharrah continued, “And they foretold Merlin and his soul mate would trigger the rebirth of an old magical race. They have done that together with a dragon. Don’t you see that this is the old prophecies come true?”

“They are soul mates. They would have been drawn together whether they wanted too or not.” Another Elder answered. Arthur was pleased that he had at least one other Elder on his side.

“He still exposed himself.”

“Which was acceptable given the circumstances.”

“We need to discuss this more privately.” An Elder replied.

“Agreed.”

“We need to discuss these events at length.”

Arthur’s heart sank he had hoped for a quick resolution, and that they would do it with him there so he could defend himself.

“What of your other charge, Guinevere?”

“She is safe and in the clear. Merlin killed the Dark-Lighter that was after her.” Arthur explained. “After he relinquished his active powers.” Arthur added, reminding them of Merlin’s power.

“Come, we must discuss this.” An Elder announced, walking off and out into a separate room.

“Remain here Arthur, do not leave while we debate this,” An Elder ordered, as the others quickly followed leaving him alone in bright empty hall.

Arthur sighed and made his way over to bench against the wall and made himself comfortable. This was going to take a long time and he knew it. But at least he got all the facts out and he had at least two Elders in his corner.

Arthur could do no more for the time being, he has pleaded his case and kept his temper. He could not guarantee the same if they ruled against him.

They kept him waiting for hours, his stomach started rumbling ages ago and his eyes were beginning to droop. He had paced, sat, paced, sat and paced some more. He chewed on some of his nails, part out of boredom and part out of nerves. Something he had never done before throughout his life, alive or dead.

Eventually after what felt like days, the Elders returned. “Arthur.” They greeted.

“Elders.” Arthur returned. Getting to his feet stiffly after sitting for so long.

“We have reviewed your testimony at length.” The Elders announced, getting straight to the point. “And after some new evidence has come to light we have decided to leave the dragon be for the time being. We will however monitor her closely, and if the Charmed Ones show any sign of losing control over or her or if she shows any sign of exposing us we will be forced to intervene.”

“What new evidence?” Arthur asked, wondering if they knew something he didn’t. The rest was more or less what he expected.

“As regards to you Arthur we are divided.” The Elders said, ignoring his question. “Until now you have had an exemplary record. You are, were, one of our top White-Lighters.”

Arthur felt dread settle in the pit of his stomach at the word ‘were’. He had heard of other angels falling from grace but he never thought he would be one of them.

But ‘divided?’ surely that meant he had at least half of them on his side. At last count, he only had two, that he knew off anyway, Arthur reckoned that this was Kilgharrah’s doing.

“And even though you are soul mates, even we can’t dispute that, and some elements were beyond your control, the fact remains that you still disobeyed two orders. And went against our wishes as regards the dragon.”

“Some of us feel that you were within your rights and that you acted as best you could under straining circumstances, while others feel that we were kept intentionally from the necessary information. Why were we not informed of the events sooner? Why did you not seek us out before hatching the egg?”

“I was shot with a Dark-Lighter arrow and was injured, that is why I did not come sooner. After that there was no time.” Arthur quickly explained.

“You were shot by a Dark-Lighter? Then how did you recover?” An Elder asked sceptically. “For you are clearly fine now.”

“Merlin healed me.”

“Young Merlin does not have healing capabilities.”

“I know. He took mine.” Arthur informed, not liking where this was going. “He switched our powers and used my own healing ability’s to heal me.”

“That is a powerful spell!” An Elder said, sounding impressed.

“I repeat we are divided.” The first Elder spoke again. “So until such time when we can reach a decision, all your charges will be removed from you and reassigned while you will remain here.”

“All of them? How long will that take?” Arthur blurted loudly.

“As long as it takes.”

“And what of the Charmed Ones? Are you going to leave them without a guide? Without protection?” Arthur said firmly, doing his best to control his temper.

“They have been reassigned as well.”

“You’re replacing me?!” He shouted. This was not good. Not good at all. Not only are they keeping him and Merlin apart, they are sending someone else. Neither Merlin nor the girls will react well to that.

“Your replacement has already been sent.”

“The Charmed Ones will not react well, they won’t accept them.” Arthur stated, “In fact that will more likely piss them off more. They already feel like you have abandoned them by keeping them in the dark for so long and you offended them by sending me to spy on them, this will make matters worse.” Arthur explained knowing his words were true.

“It is only temporary until we reach a conclusion.”

“And if you decide against me going back?” Arthur snapped “What then?”

“Then your temporary replacement will become permanent.”

“We are soul mates you will not keep us apart.” Arthur shouted.

“Are you threatening us?”

“No, merely stating a fact. I also know that Merlin will do everything in his significant power to keep us together. We are soul mates, if you tear us apart now you run the risk of making an enemy out of Merlin and the Charmed Ones.”

Arthur didn’t like implying that Merlin could be a threat, especially when he had been insisting on the opposite. But if it worked for him now it would be worth it. Seeing Kilgharrah smirk at him told him that he had done the right thing.

“Calm yourself young Arthur.” An Elder warned.

Another White-Lighter orbed into the hall next to Arthur in front of the Elders. The White-Lighter, who Arthur recognised as George, looked like he had been through a war zone. The usually impeccably dressed White-Lighter now had several smouldering patches throughout his clothing. Arthur was certain even his hair was smoking. His hands were covered in scratches, he even had one on his face.

“George? What happened?” The Elders asked.

“The Charmed Ones and the dragon attacked me.” George replied, his voice highly strained.

“They attacked you?” The Elders clarified surprised.

“Wait,” Arthur said, taking in the burnt clothing, “Aithusa is breathing fire already? How long have you kept me here?” Arthur shouted the last part. More concerned about how Merlin and the girls will be panicking if it had been weeks. He was a little worried they might try and do something stupid.

“Aithusa didn’t do this, Merlin did.” George said, tugging at his clothing in an attempt to fix himself.

“Merlin did that?” Arthur replied shocked, and a little impressed. “Oh, I forgot his powers had advanced, he can explode stuff now.” Arthur said, remembering the time in the tower when Merlin had accidently exploded him.

“Aithusa did this.” George said holding up his hand. Now that Arthur looked closely he could see small teeth marks as well as scratches, but only one or two had broken the skin.

“Merlin used his powers on you?” The Elders asked. George nodded.

“You claimed Merlin wouldn’t hurt anyone.” An Elder accused Arthur.

“He wouldn’t. Didn’t,” Arthur clarified, “George is fine. Merlin knew his power wouldn’t hurt him, he knows that he can’t hurt White-Lighters. I got caught in a blast accidently when his power suddenly increased, so he knows for a fact he can’t hurt us.” Arthur explained leaving no room for argument.

“They said that no other White-Lighter or Elder will be welcome in their house that is not Arthur.” George informed, “They said that they have researched shields and wards and will use them to make sure we cannot enter if you don’t send Arthur back.”

The Elders were shocked into silence once more, but George wasn’t finished.

“And Merlin sent a personal message.” George continued. “He said that he will do everything in his power to retrieve Arthur himself. Even if that means coming here to get him. And that they will have nothing more to do with you.”

“He does not have the power,” And Elder objected.

“Yet.” Arthur added firmly.

“Merlin said he will do anything and everything to increase his own power to retrieve Arthur.” George replied.

The Elders huddled together to discuss the recent events. Arthur stood smugly and watched, knowing he had won thanks to Merlin. While their actions may have been a little drastic they certainly made their point.

“Well it seems that we have no choice,” An Elder said when they returned after a few moments.

“I can go back?” Arthur asked, trying to contain his eagerness to return.

“You can.” The Elders agreed, “But we are not happy about this young Arthur. We don’t like being forced into something or being backed into a corner. We will be keeping a _very_ close eye on you, and if we don’t like what we see we will pull you back and take our chances.” An Elder replied almost angrily.

“You will be given no other charges, not until you prove you can be trusted again. You wanted the Charmed Ones, you have them, they will be your sole responsibility.” An Elder said as if that was a punishment. Normally it would be but Arthur had been feeling over loaded for a little while now. So he was happy to give his full attention to Merlin, and the Charmed Ones. He felt they needed it most anyway, and not just because he was so attached to them but because there was so much that they didn’t know. He would be finally able to teach them and guide properly like he should have been doing from the beginning.  

“You may both leave now.” An Elder stated to George and Arthur, “And remember Arthur we will be watching.” The Elders filed out of the hall and Arthur sighed in relief, it was over and he had won, even if it was only just.

George didn’t hang around, he instantly orbed out as soon as the Elders finished talking, without a word to Arthur.

Arthur turned to leave when a voice called him back. “Young Arthur!” Kilgharrah called, striding up to him.

“Kilgharrah.”

“I want you to know that I did what I could to defend you back there.” Kilgharrah said.

“I know you did, and I thank you.” Arthur rushed.

“They are a stickler for rules that lot, but I know I did bring more round to your side.”

“I noticed, truly Kilgharrah I am grateful.” Arthur said, “I am certain I would have lost if not for you.”

“There is something I want to ask of you young Arthur.”

“Anything.” Arthur replied hoping to show gratitude.

“Can I see him?” Kilgharrah asked eagerly. Arthur had never seen Kilgharrah quite so alive before, he would even say that Kilgharrah looked excited.

“Who?” He asked, not sure who Kilgharrah was referring too.

“Aithusa of course, may I see him?” Kilgharrah repeated.

“If it was down to me I would happily let you see him, but I don’t think Merlin would be willing to part with him, especially not up here.” Arthur explained regretfully

“No of course not, I would never dream of taking a dragonling away from his lord.”

“You want to come down there?” Arthur asked shocked, he had never seen an Elder in or near the mortal world before, in fact he had never seen an Elder away from these halls before.

“If that is acceptable to you and Merlin?”

“Of course! But why?”

“I will explain that when we are there.” Kilgharrah said.

“Is this about the new evidence that came to light?”

“Indeed.” Kilgharrah replied, almost impatiently.

“Okay. You might want to get behind me though, I don’t want Merlin to accidently explode you.” Arthur smiled.

“I’m sure I’ be fine.”

“If you insist.”

The first thing Arthur saw when he orbed into the Charmed Ones hallway was black. A mop of black hair assaulted his vision as he was nearly bowled over by Merlin. Arthur immediately wrapped his arms around his waist and buried he head in the crook of Merlin’s neck, breathing in his scent.

“Your back!” Merlin mumbled into Arthur’s neck.

“I’m back.” Arthur confirmed. To Arthur he had only been gone for a day but the fear of never seeing Merlin again made it feel like weeks.

Arthur wasn’t sure how long they stood there embraced in each other, but it wasn’t long enough, he could have remained there for hours, and would have if not for someone clearing their throat reminding him they were not alone. They would have a proper reunion later in private, Arthur decided as he pulled away a little.

“I didn’t think they were going to let you come back.” Merlin said.

“They weren’t going to, if it had not been for you and Kilgharrah here they would have kept me up there.” Arthur explained.

“Me? What did I do?” Merlin asked surprised.

“You attacked George.” Arthur said sternly, “Really though Merlin attacking a White-Lighter? Don’t you think that was a bit extreme?” Arthur asked trying to hide his amusement.

“It wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t help it.” Merlin said sheepishly, “He was very rude. He came in here telling us he was our new White-Lighter. He implied you were rubbish, that was the first time he blew up, then he said that he could do a better job than you, after he finished exploding again he then started to order us about like naughty school children.” Merlin explained, “And he upset Aithusa. He said animals should not be on the table or furniture that they should be outside or on the floor, that’s when he tried to feed him and Aithusa went for him.”

“And you didn’t stop him?” Arthur asked with a smirk.

“Why would I? He was handling well enough on his own.” Merlin smirked, “But then he started commenting to himself about cleaning up your mess. That’s when he started blowing up repeatedly until he left. I thought I might have actually killed him a one point.”

“Your powers are linked to your emotions, if you are feeling particularly upset or angry your powers will respond in kind, control of your emotions will give you control over your powers.” Kilgharrah stated, drawing their attention to him for the first time.

Thankfully Kilgharrah had lowered his hood, letting them all see his weathered wrinkled face and his salt and pepper hair, making him look friendlier.

“I didn’t want to control myself,” Merlin said sternly, “He was rude and insulting. And who are you?”

“This is my Elder, he has come to see Aisutha.”

“You are not taking him!” Merlin snapped.

“No, no no Merlin.” Arthur rushed, “This is Kilgharrah, he is _my_ Elder, my mentor and he is the one that helped me.”

“Oh well, I guess I should say thank you then.” Merlin blushed again, “Thank you.”

“The pleasure is mine young Merlin. It is for the greater good that you and Arthur remain together.” Kilgharrah said wisely. “Please may I see the dragonling?”

“You are not going to take him?” Merlin confirmed, still wary.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, he belongs here with his lord.”

“Okay,” Merlin nodded. “He is in the attic with Morgana and Freya. I was just on my way there.”

Both Arthur and Kilgharrah followed Merlin up the two flights of stairs to the attic. It felt very strange having an Elder here in the house, his two worlds really had come together.

“No Gwen?” Arthur asked on his way up.

“She is with Lance again.” Merlin said,

“She is spending a lot of time with him.” Arthur commented.

“Yes, we don’t think she will really look for her own place, more likely to move in with him.” Merlin laughed. “They are practically attached at the hip already.”

“It seems the Elders are going to have to get used to the idea of White-Lighters and their soul mates.” Kilgharrah commented.

“Gwen and Lance are soul mates?” Arthur asked.

“It would seem so.”

“It’s not surprising really, given how they are together.” Merlin agreed, as he pushed open the door to the attic.

Morgana and Freya were sat at the small table with several books laid out, clearly researching something. Arthur hoped it wasn’t another demon, they could do with a break for a few days.

“Arthur!”

“Your back!” Morgana and Freya exclaimed as they rushed over, they didn’t go for a hug but Arthur suspected it was a near thing.

“I am,” Arthur grinned, “How long have I been gone?”

“Four days.” Morgana answered.

At least it wasn’t weeks like he feared, but still, four days!

“This is Kilgharrah,” Arthur introduced, “He is my Elder, the one that helped me.”

“Morgana.”

“Freya.” The girls offered in turn.

“Where is Aithusa?” Arthur asked.

“Asleep in his bed,” Morgana replied, pointing to a mound of pillows and cushions. A white tail just about visible over the top, “Or nest if you want to call it that.”

Kilgharrah made his way over to the mound of pillows, Freya went to intercept until Arthur held her back “He is okay,” he muttered to her.

“A white dragon!” Kilgharrah exclaimed, his voice full of aww and wonder, “This is truly a rare thing.”

Kilgharrah reached out to the now awake Aithusa to stroke her gently on the head. Aithusa gave a long low groan.

“Aithusa did you say his name was?” Kilgharrah asked. Arthur nodded to agree. “That is a good name, very fitting indeed. His name means light of the sun, this bodes well for the life you will all build together.”

“How do you know that?” Merlin blurted.

“Because young Merlin, Arthur, in my former life before I became an Elder I used to be a dragon. I was the last great dragon.”

“But that would make you more than two thousand years old.” Arthur said shocked.

“Five thousand actually,” Kilgharrah corrected, “I was over three thousand when I died.”

“Five thousand!” Arthur blurted.

“Dragons live for a very long time and very resilient, they can only be vanquished by extremely powerful magic or by other dragons. I admit I didn’t think I would ever see another dragon again.” Kilgharrah said offering his arm for Aithusa, he took it by scampering up Kilgharrah’s arm and perching on his shoulder. “He is truly magnificent.”

“Well, you look very good for your age.” Morgana said.

Kilgharrah smiled, “Thank you young one.”

“Now I know why you call us all young.” Arthur replied.

“Indeed,” Kilgharrah agreed.

“Wait!” Merlin said, “This means you can help us. Tell us how to look after him, like what does he eat? How big will he grow?”

“Dragons feed of magic, which you have already discovered.” Kilgharrah started. “However they can absorb it naturally. Aithusa will naturally absorb the magic from the ley-line that runs underneath your house. They can eat magic offered to them like Arthur did, it’s just a different taste for him. When he is in his human form he can-“

“Human form?!” Several of them exclaimed.

“Yes sorry, I forgot you didn’t know that.” Kilgharrah apologised, “It’s easy to forget what is known and what is not.”

“We don’t know anything.” Freya stated.

“We looked, but there are no texts, no books, no nothing.” Arthur said.

“That was done for our own protection. In my day dragons were hunted, we were hunted to extinction. That is why there are so many negative stories, we didn’t go down without a fight.”

“But you said dragons were resilient.” Merlin said.

“We were, are.” Kilgharrah agreed, with a look at Aithusa. “Dragonlords have the power to command us, so some of them commanded their own dragons to turn on their own kind.”

“Why? Why would they do that?” Merlin asked, looking insulted.

“We absorb magic and we contain it. Our scales, blood, bone and teeth all hold powerful magical properties, even our waste. People hunted us for their own power and greed.”

“But nobody knows any of this now, right? Aithusa is not going to become hunted for any of that?” Merlin asked suddenly very worried.

“No,” Kilgharrah agreed, “This is why we purged all records.”

“And the human form thing?” Freya asked.

“Again for our own protection, so we could blend in more easily. Only a dragon can recognise another dragon in human form.” Kilgharrah started. “Dragons are shape shifters. Somewhere between six to twelve months Aithusa will shift into human form. But he will reflect his age, so if he shifts at six months he will shift into a six month old human. He won’t be able to hold the form long but as he gets older he will hold it for longer. When he is fully mature he can hold human form for weeks at a time, but he will still need to shift into his dragon form on a regular basis in order to burn of excess energy and spread his wings.”

“When in human form,” Kilgharrah continued when no one responded, too surprised to say anything, “He can eat human food, but as a dragon he wouldn’t object to the occasional chicken, turkey, even a small cat or dog would do.”

“We are _not_ feeding him cats or dogs.” Merlin said firmly.

“It was different in my day.” Kilgharrah shrugged.

“Well we are not in your day!” Morgana replied.

“It looks like we are going to need to go baby shopping.” Freya said.

“Shopping!” Morgana cheered.

“So you’re the new evidence that came to light?” Arthur asked.

“Indeed,” Kilgharrah confirmed, “None of the other Elders had known that before and it was information I was happy to keep hidden, however recent events made it necessary to divulge.”

“Thank you Kilgharrah,” Arthur said gratefully.

“It was necessary.” Kilgharrah replied dismissively, “I better be getting back. I shouldn’t stay here too long. Is it okay if I visit once in a while?”

“Of course.” Arthur replied.

“Just give us a heads up first.” Merlin said, with a glance at Arthur.

“I know we haven’t created a great first impression of us,” Kilgharrah replied. “But I hope to change your mind about that. A few of them are stuck in their ways, but we will all learn to trust each other eventually.”

“Trust is earned.” Freya stated.

“Indeed.” Kilgharrah agreed. “And I will endeavour to earn it. But for now I must go.” Kilgharrah replied lowering his arm so that Aithusa could jump back down. He landed with a chirp, and settled himself back down to go back to sleep, “If you have any questions, just send young Arthur and I will do my best to answer. Take care of each other.”

“We will.” They agreed. And Kilgharrah orbed out.

“Well Me and Freya are going to go baby shopping.” Morgana announced.

“But he is only five days old, we have another six months at least before we have to worry about all that.” Merlin replied.

“Yes well, we have lots to buy.” Freya said.

“Oh and a room to decorate, now we know he is not going to be living in a cave we will have to prepare a room for him.” Morgana added, while grabbing her bag.

“Any excuse for shopping.” Merlin smiled.

“Of course,” Morgana said.

“And no naughty stuff in front of the baby.” Freya added, who was also preparing to leave.

“Glad your back Arthur.” Morgana said, as she sprinted to the door.

“Yes Arthur, it’s good to have you back,” Freya added following Morgana, “Now Merlin can stop pining.”

“I wasn’t pining!” Merlin pouted.

“Bye.”

“See you later.” They replied ignoring Merlin’s protest.

“Pining?” Arthur smiled turning to Merlin, when they left.

“I wasn’t pining.”

“Of course you weren’t,” Arthur said clearly not believing him.

“I wasn’t” Merlin protested. “But I did miss you.” Merlin added.

“I missed you too.” Arthur smiled. Wrapping his arms around Merlin.

“Three thousand years,” Merlin said softly into Arthur’s chest, “He will outlive us all. Except maybe you.” This reminded Arthur to inform Merlin of his own immortality.

“And you Merlin. You are a Warlock, a creature of magic, you won’t die. You’re not invincible.” Arthur clarified, “But you won’t age and die, unless magic dies you won’t either.”

“Seriously!” Merlin exclaimed lifting his head.

“Seriously,” Arthur agreed, “So we get to stay with Aithusa for a long time. It’s going to be an interesting life so say the least.”

“An interesting long life.” Merlin corrected and leaned in for a long kiss. Arthur melted into Merlin knowing that he gets to keep this forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have always thought Aithusa was a girl, but when I went to check some of the wording Kilgharrah used I realised that Kilgharrah refered to Aithusa as a he. So I changed my Aithusa to a boy.


End file.
